PRESS RELEASE HELSINKI (11th August 2016)
The Finnish innovation Huone – the hotel that offers only meeting rooms – is expanding to
Singapore in February 2017. Huone Events Hotel is an exceptional place for B2B meetings and
events founded by entrepreneurs Evon Söderlund and her husband Jussi.
This week Huone announced a crowdfunding campaign on Invesdor which aims to raise 0,5M
Euros. This funding is part of Huone’s internationalisation strategy to expand to the 10 biggest
meeting cities in the world by 2025 with a franchising concept. Starting from Singapore, then
heading into Seoul (2018), Berlin, Paris, Barcelona, Brussels, Amsterdam, London, Copenhagen and Tokyo.
“Technology has changed the way we work, and it has impacted the way business meetings run.
Meeting in person and the importance of human touch is necessary to build trust. There is an
growing demand for people to meet and network in smaller events where human cooperation is
fundamental. Successful meetings will help to expand people’s interest, experience, creativity and productivity, which are the leading assets of any business”, says CEO Evon Söderlund.
The first Huone was opened in Helsinki 2012. Instead of bedrooms, Huone offers creative
thematic meeting rooms added with on-site event consultants that offer a variety of
programs, activities, wine &dine with services both offline and online. Huone is entering the
international market with its Finnish identity aiming to bring Finnish designs and brands to
the global scene. Finnish brands like Framery, Genelec, 4Business and Kyrö Distillery are
already on board.
“I have seen Huone grow and seen the success story continue and prosper. Most of all I love the
story and I believe in Evon and in Huone”, says serial entrepreneur and Huone investor Mika
Mäkeläinen.
In its three years start-up operation, the Helsinki pioneer has tripled its turnover to 1,2M€,
won 6 awards – e.g. Best Interior Design, Best Event Venue in Finland (twice), Customer
Experience – and hosted more than 3500 events.
HUONE International Oy
HUONE International offers unique solutions for business meetings and events. HUONE’s concept includes creative meeting rooms, restaurant services, and a web service developed by the company. This enables customers to book, design, pay, measure, and manage their events. HUONE spaces are located in Helsinki and Singapore. For further information, visit huone.events/fi/en