Wise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus and Skype veteran Sten Tamkivi are building Kasvuhoone, a Tallinn campus aiming to become the Nordics’ largest hub for tech, creativity and impact-driven startups.
In a quiet corner of Tallinn’s historic Kalamaja district, a vast post-industrial site once home to a 19th-century machine works is being transformed into what is being billed as the Nordics’ largest hub for technology and creativity. The ambition is as striking as the setting.
Kasvuhoone – meaning “greenhouse” in Estonian – is the brainchild of Taavet Hinrikus, a co-founder of Wise, and Sten Tamkivi, one of the earliest employees at the now-defunct Skype. The pair, two of Estonia’s leading tech entrepreneurs, plan to build a 15,000-square-metre campus to house 100 companies and 1,000 employees – with a clear ambition: to grow Estonia’s GDP and strengthen Europe’s economic independence.
“Now is the right time, together with the AI revolution, to create new companies and industries that increase Europe’s independence and competitiveness in the world,” Hinrikus said. Tamkivi added that Europe’s talent pool and market size offer “a unique opportunity to build technologies with a humanistic view – ones capable of impacting all of humanity over the next decade”.
A serious investment in substance over scale
The project is being financed by Skaala, the investment company founded by Hinrikus and Tamkivi earlier this year. Their intention is not merely to build another co-working space but to create what they describe as “more open space and less real estate” – a community-led platform for innovation, creativity and global impact.
Central to this ambition is the arrival of the Norrsken Accelerator, a leading European early-stage investor focusing on sustainability and resilience. Founded by Niklas Adalberth, co-founder of the Swedish fintech Klarna, Norrsken already runs hubs in Stockholm, Kigali, Brussels and Barcelona. Its Tallinn programme – due to launch next year – will be the organisation’s first in the Baltics.
“The shifting geopolitical climate has created a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Europe to cement our leadership as a global leader in sustainable innovation,” said Rebecka Löthman Rydå, general partner at Norrsken Accelerator. “There’s never been a better time for founders building Europe’s sustainable and resilient future.”
Designed for the long game
The new campus is being designed by Cobe, a Danish architectural firm known for its award-winning work on urban renewal. Its Estonian partner is KOKO Architects, which will oversee the transformation of the Krulli district – a 10-hectare area being redeveloped to include more than 100,000 square metres of office space and residential units.
Kasvuhoone will feature startups and creative industries alongside public areas, a food street, maker labs, exhibition spaces and shared workspaces. The aim is to create a fertile environment where new ideas and industries can take root – and where Estonia’s digital strengths can be exported to the wider world.
Hinrikus sees the project not only as a business investment but as a geopolitical signal. “The arrival of Kasvuhoone and Norrsken Accelerator to Tallinn brings the Nordic countries even closer to their eastern border and hopefully sends a strong message about regional security.”
Setting the stage for European renewal
Kasvuhoone was introduced to the public this week at Latitude59, Estonia’s flagship tech conference. Hinrikus, Tamkivi and Skaala’s CEO Kristina Siimar were joined by Charles Landry, the British urbanist and author known for his work on creative cities, to present the vision of Kasvuhoone as Europe’s most forward-looking business environment.
While the venture is unapologetically rooted in Estonia, its outlook is unmistakably pan-European. In the words of its founders, this is not just a space for business – it is a platform for building Europe’s future.
