Hy2gen plans e-fuel plant in Finland – Oulu becomes largest e-fuel hub in the Baltic Sea Region
The German company Hy2gen has secured a strategic site in Vihreäsaari, at the Port of Oulu in northern Finland, for the development of a new facility to produce renewable hydrogen and synthetic fuels. They are used for decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors, such as the maritime and aviation industries.
The proposed 200 MW plant will position Oulu as the largest hub for synthetic fuel production in the Baltic Sea Region, based on the number of Power-to-X (PtX/P2X) projects currently in development.
“Hy2gen is very pleased to have secured a site for our project at the Port of Oulu”, says Hege Økland, Managing Director of Hy2gen Nordic. “We would like to thank the City of Oulu and the Port of Oulu for choosing us as their partner in developing this area. We look forward to future collaboration in bringing our project to life.”
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Originally published on 26 Nov
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Following approval from the Lithuanian Competition Council, Tesonet has completed a €5 million investment in the Finbee group (UAB Holbee). The investment is intended to strengthen the group’s capital base and expand financing volumes for consumers and small businesses in Lithuania and international markets.
The transaction represents a significant vote of confidence in Finbee’s long-term strategy and growth trajectory. The partnership is expected to accelerate the company’s expansion into new markets, enhance customer experience solutions for both borrowers and investors, and support broader marketing initiatives.
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Originally published on 5 Mar
The latest survey data show that public awareness in Latvia about wind park development plans and energy security issues is gradually increasing. For example, 65% of respondents in a survey conducted by Norstat Latvia report that they are at least somewhat informed about the plans to develop offshore wind park in Latvia. At the same time, society increasingly supports a “moderate” development approach – more and more residents believe that Latvia should become an energy-neutral country and produce only as much electricity as it consumes domestically.
A survey commissioned as part of the ELWIND project shows that public awareness of the joint Latvian–Estonian initiative to develop an offshore wind park in the Baltic Sea has increased. This year, 65% of respondents say they are aware of the project (61% last year). Most people have heard about the project but are not familiar with all the details, while only a small share report having a very good understanding of it.
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Originally published on 9 Mar
Building on its mission to deliver meaningful, human‑centered innovation and expand what’s possible with wearable technology, Oura is acquiring Doublepoint. Founded in 2020, Doublepoint is a privately held Helsinki‑based company specializing in AI‑driven biometric and gesture-recognition technology that enables people to control devices with simple, natural movements.
The acquisition will strengthen Oura’s long-term innovation roadmap, supporting future offerings while advancing more intuitive ways for people to interact with technology in their everyday lives.
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Originally published on 9 Mar
In 2025, new and existing investors committed to €431M worth of investment decisions with support from Invest Estonia, marking the highest figure on record.
Investment decisions were concentrated primarily in electronics, chemicals, energy, wood processing, machinery, and metals. Around 40% of the total represents entirely new investments, whilst over 30% relates to reinvestments by foreign-owned companies already operating in Estonia. A further fifth comprises planned acquisitions.
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Originally published on 9 Mar
PAYSTRAX, an international payment acquiring company headquartered in Vilnius, is accelerating its growth in Lithuania. The company plans to hire up to 75 new specialists in 2026 and bring on up to 150 new employees over the next three years. Founded in Lithuania by two Icelandic entrepreneurs in 2018, PAYSTRAX has grown from a startup to an established payments provider with more than 150 employees across six European offices.
The expansion will span both of PAYSTRAX’s Lithuanian locations – in Vilnius and Klaipėda – and will focus on strengthening the company’s IT, finance, marketing, account management, operations, and onboarding capabilities. In Klaipėda, PAYSTRAX has already moved into larger premises, and in Vilnius it added a second floor at its office to accommodate the growing team.
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Originally published on 9 Mar
Ellex Baltic Fintech Legal Outlook offers a comprehensive overview of the most significant legal developments and market trends expected to shape the fintech sector in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania during 2026. Involving insights from leading legal experts in fintech, this publication highlights key regulatory changes (including PSD3/PSR, CCD II, EU AML package, MICAR, EU AI Act, Digital EURO) as well as country specific initiatives and elaborates on their impact to the local fintech markets.
In 2026, the Baltic FinTech landscape is defined by regulatory maturity, consolidation and cross-border ambition. Estonia remains a digitally advanced and credible fintech hub, benefiting from constructive engagement by the regulator and a shift towards sustainable, pan-European scaling. Latvia gains momentum with its FinTech Strategy 2026–2027, supported by active regulators´ backing and increased licensing activity, strengthening its position as an attractive innovation hub. Lithuania continues to offer efficient access to the EU market, while facing heightened supervisory expectations around AML, operational resilience, AI, cybersecurity and governance as EU regulatory integration deepens.
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Originally published on 2 Mar
The newly published Cruise Baltic Market Review shows broad‑based growth in 2025, with many medium‑sized and large destinations reporting increases in calls, guests, and turnarounds. This indicates a more balanced and resilient regional cruise market.
In 2025, the cruise activity in the region increased from 2024 in terms of guests, port calls, and turnarounds with respectively 12.3%, 12.8%, and 5.6%.
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Originally published on 2 Mar
The Northern Industry event offers visitors a comprehensive overview of industrial services, products and the latest insights. Come and talk with our experts and experience how data and automation turn into real value in production!
Northern Finland’s largest industrial event, Northern Industry 2026, will take place at Oulu Hall on 20–21 May 2026. The event brings together more than 300 exhibitors and professionals across various industrial sectors, offering a wide overview of current themes such as energy, hydrogen economy, maintenance, mining industry and operational reliability in modern industrial environments.
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Originally published on 5 Mar
The 26 highest ranked projects in the second BioPhoT call for research and innovation projects will receive funding. They will receive an investment of €4,710,859, with each project receiving up to €190,000 in funding for eight months of research and innovation activities.
Most of the supported projects – seven – will be carried out by research groups from the Institute of Solid State Physics at the University of Latvia. The University of Latvia follows with five supported projects, followed by the Institute of Organic Synthesis and Riga Technical University with four each. Two projects each will be implemented by teams from the Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre and Riga Stradins University, and one each by research groups from the Institute of Electronics and Computer Science and Ventspils University College.
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Originally published on 6 Mar
Cybernetica has successfully completed additional technical delivery of the CDOC2 project for the Estonian Information System Authority (RIA), implementing a comprehensive upgrade to Estonia’s national file encryption standard that addresses critical security requirements and enables long-term secure document storage.
CDOC – Crypto DigiDoc – is the file format used to store encrypted DigiDoc files. The objective of the CDOC2 project was to replace the previous CDOC 1.0 standard. It became clear during the 2017 ROCA cryptographic vulnerability crisis that additional protections are necessary. Updates to the standard are two-fold:
- modernising the encrypted file format and adding additional encryption algorithm support
- providing additional protection against harvest-now-decrypt-later attack and preparing CDOC system for quantum computer threat
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Originally published on 6 Mar