Estonia Offers S'pore Firms Speedy Set-Up, Fast Pathway to EU

e-Residency scheme allows foreigners to remotely establish business there

- Krist Boo

TALLINN - It is a Thursday night, but customers in a psychedelic blue-lit room off a cobblestone street in Estonia's capital city Tallinn are belting out songs by modern boy band Backstreet Boys.

They are in House 10, the country's first karaoke spot to offer private rooms over open bars, and the first to serve up Singapore sambal popcorn - ordered through QR code.

Singaporean Venus Lim opened the well-rated hang-out spot in Tallinn after working and living there for five years.

She was drawn to the country's e-Residency scheme, which allows foreigners to remotely establish business in Estonia to access the 450 million population market in the 27-state European Union, of which Estonia is a member.

More than 122,000 applicants from over 170 countries have since used the programme to register 33,800 Estonian companies, according to Estonia's official figures.

Ms Lim said: "You can incorporate a company in a matter of minutes, and then you can get a company bank account within the same, or next, week."

She is among the Singaporeans who spoke to The Straits Times in Tallinn, on the back of a series of bilateral exchanges that included visits from then Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas to Singapore in 2023, and President Tharman Shanmugaratnam to Estonia in 2024.

Mr Priit Turk, the country's ambassador to Singapore and Asean, said Estonia wants to showcase itself as a launchpad for global expansion, especially in deep tech, cyber security and artificial intelligence (AI).