Businesses’ investment planning grew by more than 10 million euros compared to the year before, according to the 2023 statistics on the operations of Keuke (Keski-Uudenmaan Kehittämiskeskus Oy). Investment plans totalled roughly 7.8 million in 2022, whereas in 2023 the sum was almost 18 million euros. 

“New EU funding opportunities for businesses became available last year. We saw the effects of this at Keuke in the autumn as the number of investment and financing applications rose dramatically,” says Elina Pekkarinen, the CEO of Keuke.

“Due to the economic situation, businesses take a much more cautious approach to investing, but if they do decide to go ahead, the investments are large and significant.”

Keuke’s statistics for 2023 also reveal that a growing number of customers are familiar to Keuke from before. 

“Our customer numbers have stabilized at just above 2,000, with the exception of the COVID-19 year. But there's a new trend in sight, and that is the growing number of returning customers in our customer base. This is a sign of high customer satisfaction and the fact that businesses want to undertake new development projects specifically with Keuke,” says Pekkarinen. 

New businesses are being established at an accelerating pace 

In 2023, a total of 1,392 new businesses were established in Keuke’s operating area. This is slightly more than in 2022, when the number was 1,375. A total of 577 businesses closed down in 2023, while in 2022 the figure was only slightly smaller, 535 businesses. (The number of closed down businesses includes businesses that changed their company form or closed down in some other way or went bankrupt.)

“We have seen a steady growth in the number of new businesses for several years now. The wave of bankruptcies that caused concern last year cannot be seen in the statistics for our area. The number of businesses that closed down is quite reasonable and very similar to the previous years,” says Elina Pekkarinen. 

In fact, advice on starting a business was Keuke’s most popular service in 2023. Of all the customers of Keuke, 31% used this service. The second most popular service was marketing and sales consulting. Its popularity increased by nine percentage units from the previous year. 

“The marketing and communication environment is changing constantly and becoming more fragmented. This creates challenges for businesses as they do not know where they should focus their marketing efforts and which new channels they should pursue. I believe that the massive arrival of artificial intelligence will also affect marketing and sales. AI provides a great tool for both,” says Pekkarinen.

“We at Keuke have invested heavily in digital services and, just last year, we launched a digital platform for drawing up marketing plans for businesses. The platform guides users to consider the target groups of the business more carefully and find the right channels and key messages to reach them.”

You can find Keuke’s operating statistics for 2023 here: https://www.keuke.fi/client/keuke2017/userfiles/keuke-toiminnan-tilastot-2023-oikea.pdf

Keuke is a local development company, owned by municipalities, that supports the development and growth of companies in Central Uusimaa, in the areas of Järvenpää, Karkkila, Kerava, Nurmijärvi, Pornainen, Sipoo and Tuusula. We provide professional advice on all business-related matters, such as activating sales and marketing, solving financial and funding issues, planning investments, finding partners, internationalization and ownership changes.

Keuke’s operating figures for 2023 in a nutshell:

• 2,140 customers (+58 from the previous year)
• The most used service was advice on starting a business at 31% (32% in the previous year)
• The second most used service was marketing and sales consultation at 21% (12% in the previous year)
• 191 financing applications, worth 7.3 million euros in total (220 applications worth 5.4 million euros in 2022)
• 41 investment plans, worth 17.9 million euros in total (17 plans worth 7.7 million euros in 2022) 

More information: Keuke’s CEO Elina Pekkarinen, tel. +358 50 549 2213. www.keuke.fi. You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.