Understand Labs
Understand Labs (Prague, founded 2023) built Understand, a scrollytelling data visualization and storytelling platform with AI-powered analysis, serving modern data teams, product companies (via white-label/API), and enterprises via freemium and tiered SaaS pricing before being acquired by GoodData in October 2025.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2023
- HeadquartersPrague, Czechia
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Understand Labs does
Understand Labs s.r.o., a Prague-based private company founded in 2023 by Peter Fedorocko, Vojta Bartos, and Jan Svager, built the Understand platform — a scrollytelling-based data visualization and storytelling product that converts static charts and dashboard canvases into guided, interactive data narratives delivered as scrolling cards. The platform connects to structured data sources including Google Sheets, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, OLAP cubes, BigQuery, Redshift, Azure, and Snowflake, and layers on Understand AI (powered by OpenAI) for automated analysis, summarization, anomaly detection, and alerting. The company was acquired by GoodData in October 2025, and its capabilities were folded into GoodData's AI Lake / AI Hub / AI Apps enterprise stack.
Understand Labs operated a product-led, freemium SaaS model: a free Starter tier for individual authors, a Growth tier at $25 per editor per month for teams (with unlimited viewers, Channels, Google Sheets/SQL connectors, and 30 Understand AI cards), plus paid add-ons for additional AI cards ($15/30 cards/month), advanced data warehouse connectors ($99/connector/month), and API access ($199/month). An Enterprise tier with custom pricing offered OLAP connectors, custom charts, SSO, private cloud, single-tenant deployment, and access control. A white-label/embedded solution and a public Python SDK (understand_sdk) allowed product companies to integrate data stories under their own domain, opening a secondary OEM/embedded go-to-market alongside direct self-serve acquisition.
Understand Labs firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Understand Labs
- Legal name
- Understand Labs s.r.o.
- Website
- https://understandhq.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2023
- Operating status
- Acquired
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Understand Labs (Prague, founded 2023) built Understand, a scrollytelling data visualization and storytelling platform with AI-powered analysis, serving modern data teams, product companies (via white-label/API), and enterprises via freemium and tiered SaaS pricing before being acquired by GoodData in October 2025.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Understand Labs industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Data Visualization Software
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Semantic Layer, Metrics Store & Headless BI (HDAEAMAE)
Keywords
Where Understand Labs is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Prague
- HQ country
- Czechia
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Understand Labs business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Subscription SaaS: Multi-tier subscription model with Starter (free), Growth ($25/editor/month), and Enterprise (custom pricing). Revenue driven by per-seat pricing for editors plus add-ons for additional AI cards, connectors, and API access.
- Add-on Features: Additional revenue from Understand AI cards ($15 per 30 cards/month), advanced data connectors ($99/connector/month), and API access ($199/month).
- Enterprise Licensing: Custom pricing for enterprise organizations requiring OLAP connectors, custom API, custom connectors, custom charts, private cloud deployment, single tenant deployment, SSO, and access control.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free tier for individuals creating and sharing data stories |
| Subscription | Monthly | Team tier for data-driven decisions at $25/editor/month |
| Subscription | Monthly | Additional AI cards and connectors as add-ons |
| Subscription | Monthly | API access for programmatic story creation |
| Subscription | Annual | Enterprise with custom pricing for additional requirements |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels4 records
Understand Labs product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Understand Labs sells the Understand platform, a SaaS that turns static charts and complex BI dashboards into interactive 'data stories' using scrollytelling. It connects to spreadsheets, SQL databases, OLAP cubes, cloud warehouses, and APIs, and bundles an AI layer for automated analysis, summarization, and anomaly alerting. The company also sells a separately priced API, white-label/embedded deployments, and custom development services for unique visualizations and connectors.
Product overview
Understand Labs offers Understand, a unified data visualization and storytelling platform that transforms static charts into interactive scrollytelling experiences. The platform consists of the core Understand product (supporting Starter, Growth, and Enterprise tiers), the Understand AI add-on for automated analysis and anomaly detection, the public Understand API for programmatic story creation, white label embedding solutions, and custom development services. The product integrates with multiple data sources (Google Sheets, SQL databases, BigQuery, Snowflake, Redshift, Azure) and supports export via PDF and Slack sharing.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Understand (Data Stories Platform) The Understand platform is a SaaS application (app.understandhq.com) that turns static charts and complex BI dashboards into interactive, scrollytelling data stories. It connects to CSV files, Google Sheets, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, OLAP cubes, APIs, and cloud warehouses (BigQuery, Redshift, Azure, Snowflake), and lets users design stories with StoryCard, Chart, Transition, Layer, and StoryExplain building blocks, schedule updates, and share via public links, embeds, PDF, or Slack. Offered in Starter (free), Growth ($25/editor/month), and Enterprise (custom) tiers.
- Understand AI Understand AI is an OpenAI-powered add-on module that automatically analyzes and summarizes data, generates dynamic story content, and performs anomaly detection with targeted alerting to deliver the right story to the right people at the right time. It is sold separately from the core subscription as an add-on ($15 per 30 cards/month) for analysts and data teams that need AI-assisted storytelling on top of the Understand platform.
- Understand API The Understand API is a publicly documented developer product that lets customers create and manage Understand data stories programmatically at scale, with a Python SDK (understand_sdk) for story creation and iframe-based embedding. It targets developers and product teams integrating data storytelling into their own workflows and is priced at $199/month.
- White Label Solution The White Label Solution is a separately scoped offering that lets product companies embed Understand data stories inside their own applications under their own branding and custom domain, including iframe embedding and API-driven story creation. It targets SaaS and application vendors that want to ship customer-facing, branded data storytelling without building it in-house, with commercial terms negotiated via direct sales.
- Custom Charts & Integrations Services Custom Charts & Integrations is a professional services offering in which Understand Labs' team rapidly designs and builds unique visualizations and data connectors tailored to a customer's specific storytelling needs. It is sold as a quoted engagement (Book a call) to organizations whose requirements exceed the standard connectors and chart library available in the Understand platform.
Companies that use Understand Labs
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Understand Labs technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration13 records
AI capability4 records
Feature8 records
Understand Labs partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- GoodDatacoreGoodData, a Full-Stack Data Intelligence Platform company, acquired Understand Labs to expand its AI leadership and semantic AI capabilities. The acquisition positions Understand Labs as part of GoodData's unified AI Lake, AI Hub, and AI Apps enterprise offering, with Understand Labs specifically accelerating AI data storytelling and agentic vision.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Understand Labs competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Observable: Collaborative data visualization and notebook platform built around D3 and JavaScript, popular with modern data teams for exploratory charts and storytelling. Directly comparable narrative-first visualization positioning to Understand.
- Sigma Computing: Cloud-native BI tool targeting modern data teams with spreadsheet-style exploration and dashboarding. Closely comparable GTM (PLG, horizontal, modern data stack) and shares the analyst/team persona with Understand.
- Mode Analytics: Collaborative analytics platform for data scientists and analysts combining SQL, Python, reporting and dashboards. Targets the same modern data team persona and overlaps with Understand's narrative storytelling angle.
- Flourish: Data storytelling and visualization tool focused on turning data into engaging, shareable visual narratives for journalists, analysts and enterprises. Closest direct comparable to Understand's scrollytelling positioning.
Broad incumbents
- Tableau: Salesforce-owned BI and data visualization platform serving the same modern data team buyer as Understand, with dashboards, storytelling and now AI-generated narratives (Tableau Pulse). A broader incumbent rather than a direct scrollytelling competitor.
- Microsoft Power BI: Enterprise-grade BI platform bundled with the Microsoft data stack, including Copilot-powered narrative summaries. Competes with Understand for the same data-driven decision-making use cases at much larger scale.
- Looker: Google Cloud's enterprise BI and semantic layer platform. Highly comparable because Understand Labs' acquisition by GoodData was framed around semantic AI, an area where Looker is a category-defining incumbent.
- ThoughtSpot: AI-driven analytics platform with natural language search and AI-generated insights, increasingly focused on agentic analytics. Competes for the same enterprise analytics budget as Understand's enterprise tier.
- Domo: Cloud BI and data storytelling platform targeting business users with dashboards, alerts and embedded analytics. Overlaps with Understand's alerting, anomaly detection and embeddable story distribution.
Others
- GoodData: Acquirer of Understand Labs and a full-stack data intelligence platform with semantic layer, AI Lake/Hub/Apps. Related as the parent ecosystem now distributing Understand's storytelling capabilities rather than as a direct competitor.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Understand Labs social profiles
Digital presenceUnderstand Labs financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Understand Labs leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Understand Labs funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Understand Labs M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Understand Labs
What does Understand Labs do?
Understand Labs sells the Understand platform, a SaaS that turns static charts and complex BI dashboards into interactive 'data stories' using scrollytelling. It connects to spreadsheets, SQL databases, OLAP cubes, cloud warehouses, and APIs, and bundles an AI layer for automated analysis, summarization, and anomaly alerting. The company also sells a separately priced API, white-label/embedded deployments, and custom development services for unique visualizations and connectors.
Is Understand Labs a public or private company?
Understand Labs is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently acquired.
When was Understand Labs founded?
Understand Labs was founded in 2023. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Understand Labs based?
Understand Labs is headquartered in Prague, Czechia, in the Europe region.
How does Understand Labs make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Subscription SaaS are the primary driver. The others are add-on Features and enterprise Licensing.
Who are Understand Labs's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Observable, Sigma Computing, Mode Analytics and Flourish. Broad incumbents are Tableau, Microsoft Power BI, Looker, ThoughtSpot and Domo. GoodData is listed as an others.
Does Understand Labs have an API?
Yes. Understand Labs offers a public API that enables developers to create stories at scale. The API supports creating stories programmatically using the understand_sdk Python library, embedding stories via iframe, and creating custom connectors. Pricing is available at $199/month for API access. Developer documentation is at docs.understandhq.com.
What industry is Understand Labs in?
Understand Labs's product category is Data Visualization Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAEAMAE, Semantic Layer, Metrics Store & Headless BI. Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7372.