History
The story of Sulake started in 1999, when two young
Finnish guys, Sampo Karjalainen and Aapo Kyrölä, made an online application called Mobiles Disco
for their friends' band. Mobiles Disco was purely a free-time project, but, once launched on the
internet, this multi-user online community became a huge success gathering users around the world.
The first Habbo community was born.
Habbo Hotel becomes an international brand
With the help from Finnish advertising agency Taivas, Sampo and Aapo started to develop the idea
of a multiplayer online game further. Soon the company Sulake was founded and the first virtual
community, Hotelli Kultakala (Hotel Goldfish), was launched in Finland in August 2000. After the
huge success of the first Habbo launch, Habbo Hotel was opened in the UK as well and Habbo was
officially born as a brand. Two new communities were launched in 2001 and four in 2003, while at
the same time the technical platform was re-built and the concept further developed.
Millions of teenagers get attracted to Habbo Hotel
During 2004, Sulake as a company and Habbo Hotel as a community chain grew dramatically. By
the end of 2004 there were 16 online communities on four different continents and Sulake had over
160 employees.
In 2005 and 2006, Habbo further strengthened its presence around the world and currently
Habbo Hotel has customers in over 150 countries. Teenagers around the world have created 243
million Habbo characters and 10 million unique visitors visit Habbo Hotel every
month.
