Suomen Tietotoimisto (The Finnish News Agency)

What Suomen Tietotoimisto (The Finnish News Agency) does

Suomen Tietotoimisto (STT) is Finland's national news agency, founded in 1887 as Suomen Sähkösanomatoimisto and operating under its current name since 1915, making it one of the world's oldest continuously operating news agencies. Headquartered in Helsinki with approximately 120 employees, STT operates a 24/7 newsroom with its own correspondent in Brussels and overnight coverage handled from an office co-located within Australian Associated Press (AAP) premises in Sydney. The company serves all major Finnish media publishers—including Helsingin Sanomat, Yle, Ilta-Sanomat, Keskisuomalainen-konserni, and MSN Finland—as well as enterprises and government bodies through its STT Viestintäpalvelut division.

STT's product portfolio spans four business lines: (1) a subscription-based core news wire delivering 24/7 text and image content with SMS breaking-news alerts (priced at €17.50/month per category); (2) enterprise communication services including press release distribution (STT Info), strategic communication timing (STT Luotsi), and media monitoring; (3) image licensing and custom photography through wholly-owned subsidiary Lehtikuva, acquired in 2010; and (4) AI-assisted comment moderation services for online media discussions, with Ilta-Sanomat as the first major client since November 2019. Notable technical products include the 2024 AI Radio News (tekoälyradiouutiset) developed with Bauer Media—which generates automated text and audio news for commercial radio—and the Roma program information system launched in autumn 2024 to replace the discontinued Venice system.

Revenue is generated primarily through recurring subscriptions to media publishers and enterprises, supplemented by transactional image licensing and custom photography commissions. The company operates a sales-led go-to-market model with dedicated sales teams for media services and STT Viestintäpalvelut, distributing content via direct data feeds, the Mediapankki portal, and the Lehtikuva e-commerce image store (kuvakauppa.lehtikuva.fi). STT is privately held with Yleisradio as a historical shareholder; no venture or private equity ownership is indicated in the source materials. The current CEO is Kimmo Pietinen (appointed 2018), and Minna Holopainen serves as Editor-in-Chief.

Name

Suomen Tietotoimisto (The Finnish News Agency)

Legal name

Oy Suomen Tietotoimisto – Finska Notisbyrån Ab

Website

https://stt.fi

Company type

Private

Founded year

1887

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Suomen Tietotoimisto (STT) is Finland's national news agency, one of the world's oldest (founded 1887), providing 24/7 text and image news wire services, enterprise communication services, image licensing via subsidiary Lehtikuva, and AI-assisted moderation to Finnish media publishers and organizations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Helsinki

HQ country

Finland

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Media News Services: Core news wire service providing text and image content to Finnish media outlets; includes 24/7 news coverage, breaking news alerts via SMS, and curated news feeds
2. Communication Services: STT Viestintäpalvelut provides press release distribution, newsroom services, and strategic communication planning for enterprises and organizations
3. Image Sales (Lehtikuva): Sale and licensing of photographs to media, organizations, businesses, publishers, and advertising agencies; includes historical archive images and custom photography services
4. Moderation Services: Pre-moderation of online discussion forums for media companies and other organizations; first major client was Ilta-Sanomat in November 2019

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

STT is Finland's national news agency providing 24/7/365 text and image news coverage to Finnish media publishers, supported by an in-house correspondent network (Helsinki, Brussels, Australia). It also sells press release distribution and strategic communication services to enterprises (STT Viestintäpalvelut), licenses photography through its Lehtikuva subsidiary, and offers pre-moderation services for online news discussions using AI-assisted tools.

Product overview

Suomen Tietotoimisto (STT) is Finland's national news agency operating as a full-service media company. The core offering is its 24/7 news agency service delivering text and image journalism. The product portfolio includes: STT News Agency Service (core), STT Luotsi (strategic communication planning), STT Info (press release distribution), STT Uutiskirje (newsletter), Mediapankki (media archive), and Text Message News (SMS alerts). Subsidiary Lehtikuva provides image sales and custom photography. Additional services include moderation for news media (using AI-assisted tools), radio news broadcasts, and AI Radio News (generated content for radio). The Tyylikirja Style Guide documents editorial standards. The company operates from Helsinki with ~120 employees and serves all major Finnish media.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• STT Viestintäpalvelut: STT's communication and public relations services division
• Lehtikuva
• STT Info
• STT Luotsi
• STT Pro
• STT Digihubi

Products and services

• STT News Agency Service Continuous news wire service delivering text and image journalism to Finnish media outlets (newspapers, online publications, radio stations), including breaking news alerts and curated news feeds.
• STT Text Message News (Tekstiviestiuutiset)

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Bauer MediacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Strategic partnership to develop and launch AI-generated radio news (Tekoälyradiouutiset). The project won the European News Agencies Association innovation award in 2024 and the team received the Vuoden uudistaja award at the Suuri Journalistipalkinto competition.
• RetrievercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership combining STT's journalism expertise with Retriever's media monitoring technology. Joint offering in the Finnish media monitoring market.
• MSN FinlandminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorMSN operates its own news portal and distributes STT's journalistic content to its audiences as a media customer.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Agence France-Presse (AFP): French global news agency providing text, photo, video and infographics wire services to media worldwide. Directly comparable to STT as a national wire service that has expanded into images, video, and digital content distribution.
• Associated Press (AP): US-based global news cooperative providing wire services, photography, and broadcast content to thousands of media outlets. Closest direct competitor model to STT: national-origin news agency serving domestic media with international correspondent network.
• Reuters / Thomson Reuters: Global news and information services company providing wire content, images, and data to media and enterprise customers. Comparable to STT in news wire distribution, photography sales, and B2B enterprise information services.
• Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa): Germany's national news agency offering text, photo, video, and graphics wire services. Closest geographic and structural analog to STT as a European national wire serving domestic media with comprehensive services.
• Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå (TT): Swedish news agency providing wire services to Swedish media. Highly comparable to STT as a Nordic national news agency of similar size serving a domestic market of comparable scale.
• Australian Associated Press (AAP): Australian news cooperative. Directly relevant as STT operates an office within AAP's Sydney premises and the two agencies cover for each other across time zones — indicating shared operating model and direct product/service overlap.
• Norsk Telegrambyrå (NTB): Norwegian news agency providing wire, photo, and communication services. Direct Nordic peer with very similar service portfolio to STT.
• Ritzau: Danish news agency providing wire services and press release distribution. Comparable to STT in size, scope, and Nordic market position.
• ANSA: Italian national news agency providing wire services, photos, and multimedia content. Comparable European national news agency model to STT.

Others

• Retriever: Media monitoring and analysis company. STT has a partnership with Retriever for the Finnish media monitoring market; comparable as an adjacent technology partner serving similar enterprise and media customers.

Market position

Weaknesses3 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/sttviestintap
• Facebookfacebook.com/sttuutiset
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/stt-lehtikuva

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Suomen Tietotoimisto (The Finnish News Agency)