The Finnish infrastructure company Finest Bay Area Development (FEBAY) has announced a capital partnership with Finna Family Office designed to unlock family-office investment in the planned Helsinki–Tallinn Finest Tunnel. Through this arrangement, Finna will launch the Finna Finest Infrastructure Fund, a regulated Luxembourg-based vehicle that will channel investor capital into FEBAY's development of the tunnel. The 103-kilometre rail corridor, with approximately 78 kilometres running underwater beneath the Gulf of Finland, is scheduled to begin operations in 2035, pending environmental clearances, permits and financing approvals. Beyond the tunnel itself, the initiative encompasses a broader infrastructure ecosystem: a planned artificial island, a subsea data centre operating at gigawatt scale, small modular reactor capacity, offshore wind generation and expanded power-grid infrastructure.
FEBAY, established by Peter Vesterbacka and Kustaa Valtonen, retains ownership and operational leadership of the Finest Tunnel project, managing its technical progression, regulatory approvals and ultimate construction. The company is pursuing the tunnel as a privately financed infrastructure venture, positioning it as a direct rail connection between Finland's and Estonia's capital cities.
Finna's new fund has been structured to accommodate the extended timescales characteristic of major infrastructure development, with backing from European family offices, asset managers and investors based in the United States. The partnership deliberately aligns the lengthy development cycles of transformative infrastructure with capital sources that prioritize multi-generational returns over near-term profits.
A tunnel under the sea is not a five-year investment. It is an asset that will serve generations, and that is exactly how family offices think. They invest for the next generation, not the next quarter, and they understand what strategic infrastructure means for the regions their families live and work in. The Finna Finest Infrastructure Fund is being designed to give them a clear, regulated route into one of Northern Europe's defining infrastructure projects. And as our family office platform opens, we want long-term investing of this kind to come within reach of many more families.
Christian Lindekilde, Founder of Finna
A 103-kilometre rail connection
The Finest Tunnel spans approximately 103 kilometres connecting Finland and Estonia, with roughly 78 kilometres submerged beneath the Gulf of Finland. The design incorporates two primary railway tunnels and four tracks conforming to European standard gauge.
On the Finnish side, the route would incorporate Tuusula as a depot and cargo hub, pass through Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, Otaniemi and Keilaniemi in Espoo, then reach a planned artificial island positioned some 15 kilometres south of Helsinki before arriving at Ülemiste in Tallinn, adjacent to Tallinn Airport. From Tallinn, the line would connect to Rail Baltica, potentially establishing a broader transport corridor linking Finland with Baltic nations and the wider European rail system.
The tunnel would accommodate both passenger and freight services. Current maritime traffic between the two capitals underscores the potential demand: in 2025, more than 7.5 million passengers crossed between Helsinki and Tallinn by ferry, according to FEBAY. A direct rail tunnel would substantially reduce travel time, eliminating the need for the existing sea crossing.
FEBAY has set 2035 as the target year for tunnel operations to commence, though this timeline depends on completion of environmental reviews, planning and permitting processes, engineering development, securing financing and navigating government approval procedures.
Tunnel at the centre of a wider infrastructure programme
FEBAY's vision extends considerably beyond the tunnel corridor itself. The rail link serves as the foundational element of a comprehensive infrastructure programme, with each component planned to undergo independent development, permitting and financing processes.
A planned artificial island situated along the tunnel route in the Gulf of Finland would serve dual purposes: supporting tunnel construction and operations, including ventilation and emergency access systems, while functioning as a potential urban development hub.
FEBAY intends to construct a gigawatt-scale data centre embedded beneath the seabed and integrated with the tunnel infrastructure. The facility would leverage the geological shielding offered by the tunnel environment and draw power from the programme's energy systems. Energy generation would come from small modular reactors (SMRs), which FEBAY identifies as a source of low-carbon electricity for the data centre and broader programme, complemented by a planned offshore wind installation. The infrastructure programme also includes high-voltage transmission capacity routed through the tunnel, which FEBAY suggests would establish an additional connection between Nordic and Continental European power grids while positioning transmission lines deep underwater, where they face reduced exposure to damage from maritime anchors.
Helsinki and Tallinn are two capitals with a stretch of sea between them. The Finest Tunnel will make them one region. The tunnel comes first, and everything else builds on it, the island, a data centre secured deep beneath the seabed, the energy to run it, and a power connection that is far better protected than any cable on the seafloor. In Finna we have a partner that brings the patient, long-term investors a programme like this needs.
Kustaa Valtonen, co-founder of Finest Bay Area Development
Family offices as infrastructure investors
For Finna, this partnership represents a vehicle to direct family-office wealth toward extended-duration infrastructure investments. Finna Family Office, founded by Christian Lindekilde, positions itself as a platform integrating investments, private funds, property, insurance, liabilities and long-term financial planning for family wealth holders.
Lindekilde previously served in an executive capacity at UBS Global Family Office, where he engaged with family offices managing over $30 billion in assets. He subsequently mobilized more than $280 million in capital for American technology ventures. Finna's planned platform aims to democratize the family-office investment model, making it accessible to a broader spectrum of families and individual investors, though participation in specific investments such as the Finest Infrastructure Fund remains contingent on meeting eligibility criteria, suitability standards and regulatory requirements.
The fund has not yet opened to investor subscriptions. Its establishment and capital deployment remain conditional on finalizing documentation, satisfying regulatory requirements, obtaining necessary approvals and meeting closing conditions.
A privately financed European infrastructure bet
The arrangement reflects FEBAY's strategy to advance one of Europe's most ambitious proposed cross-border transport initiatives through private capital channels rather than depending exclusively on government funding. Vesterbacka emphasized that family offices possess the patient capital orientation essential for infrastructure ventures with protracted development and operational lifecycles.
Europe has never been short of big ideas. What it often lacks is capital willing to take the risk and stay with them long enough to get them built. Europe's family offices, together with partners around the world, can be that capital. Random Ventures, the investment company Kustaa Valtonen and I jointly own, has invested in Finna because we believe in what it is building. That investment reflects our commitment to this partnership and to delivering the Finest Tunnel.
Peter Vesterbacka, founder of FEBAY
Vesterbacka and Valtonen jointly control Random Ventures, an investment entity that has committed capital to Finna. According to FEBAY, this investment demonstrates their dedication to advancing both the partnership and the tunnel's realisation. The immediate priority centres on advancing the tunnel's development and securing its financing. Should the project navigate its regulatory, technical and financing hurdles successfully, the tunnel could ultimately serve as the structural core of a much larger cross-border infrastructure network integrating transport, energy and digital systems spanning Finland and Estonia.
Source: ArcticStartup
