Upanup Studios

What Upanup Studios does

Upanup Studios is a Canadian digital solutions firm that designs, develops, and hosts websites for municipal governments and public utilities across North America. Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Victoria, British Columbia, the company operates three offices spanning Pacific, Mountain, and Eastern time zones (Victoria, Calgary, and Waterloo) and reports a portfolio of 60+ municipality and utility clients. Its core technology stack is built on the Drupal content management system, with services emphasizing WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility compliance, AODA adherence, responsive and mobile-first design, user experience research, and content governance. Differentiated offerings include CiviKit Intranet, a templated Drupal-based internal communications product, and integrations with public-sector systems such as eScribe, Moneris, and PerfectMind.

Name

Upanup Studios

Legal name

Upanup

Website

https://upanup.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Upanup Studios is a Canadian digital solutions firm that designs, develops, and hosts accessible Drupal-based websites for municipal governments and public utilities across North America.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Victoria

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Website Design & Development Services: Professional services revenue from designing and developing custom websites for municipal governments and utilities. Projects include accessibility-focused redesigns, CMS implementations, and digital transformation for government clients.
2. Website Hosting & Support: Ongoing website hosting and maintenance services for existing client websites, providing continuous support and updates.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Upanup Studios designs, develops, and hosts custom Drupal-based websites for municipal governments and utilities across North America, with a focus on WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility compliance and user experience. The firm also offers a proprietary Drupal-based CiviKit Intranet product for internal staff communications and provides ongoing hosting and technical support for launched sites.

Product overview

Upanup Studios is a Canadian digital solutions company offering a comprehensive suite of web solutions for municipal governments and utilities. Their core offerings center on municipal website solutions and utility website solutions, supported by specialized services including user experience (UX) research and testing, web accessibility services, content strategy and governance, and Drupal CMS expertise. They also offer the CiviKit Intranet product for internal communications. The company delivers award-winning digital solutions through a 'user experience first' approach, focusing on web accessibility, usability, and overall great website experiences for government and utility sector clients across North America.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CiviKit Intranet: A templated intranet solution built on Drupal, designed for municipal internal communications and staff portals.
• CiviKit

Products and services

• Municipal Website Solutions Custom website design, development, and hosting services for municipal governments, featuring accessibility compliance (WCAG 2.1 AA, AODA), user-friendly Drupal CMS, and content migration support. Served to cities, towns, counties, districts, and townships.
• Utility Website Solutions Website solutions for utilities and public authorities, providing public information portals for water resources and energy providers, including interactive tools such as rebate eligibility questionnaires and savings calculators.
• User Experience (UX) Services UX research, testing, and strategy services including sitemap usability testing, focus groups, surveys, and user feedback collection to inform website design decisions for government and utility clients.
• Web Accessibility Services Accessibility services ensuring websites meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards, AODA compliance, and state accessibility legislation requirements for government and utility clients.
• Content Strategy & Governance Content strategy, content audits, content migration, and governance model implementation including distributed, central team, hub-and-spoke, and matrix models for municipal and utility organizations.
• CiviKit Intranet Templated intranet solution built on Drupal for internal employee communication in municipal governments, featuring news, alerts, staff directory, events calendar, document library, and secure sign-on capabilities.
• Website Hosting & Support Ongoing website hosting and technical support services for launched municipal and utility websites, providing continuous maintenance and updates under multi-year contracts.
• Brand Strategy & Implementation Logo rebranding and visual identity development including email signatures, letterheads, business cards, and corporate style guides for government and utility clients.

Quantifiable outcome

• 58% increase in website users post-launch
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

Feature4 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• CivicPlus: One of the largest US providers of integrated municipal government technology, including website CMS, forms, payments, and civic engagement. Directly comparable to Upanup in serving the same municipal website buyer, but with a much broader product suite and larger scale.
• Granicus: Government technology platform offering websites, communications, agenda management, and public records solutions to municipalities and utilities. Targets the same government buyer as Upanup with overlapping website and civic engagement offerings, though at substantially greater scale.
• Tyler Technologies: Large public-sector software company with a Public Administration portfolio that includes OpenCities (website CMS) and broader ERP/permits/court solutions. Comparable buyer overlap with Upanup but with a much wider product footprint and significantly greater scale.

Direct peers

• Revize Software: Drupal-based municipal government website CMS vendor serving cities, counties, and townships. Closely comparable to Upanup in technology stack (Drupal), target customer (municipal governments), and product scope (government website solutions).
• Forum One: Digital agency building websites, intranets, and digital platforms for associations, nonprofits, and government clients. Comparable to Upanup in Drupal-based custom development services and similar professional-services delivery model.
• Mighty Citizen: Digital agency specializing in websites and engagement platforms for associations, foundations, and government organizations. Comparable to Upanup in serving mission-driven public-sector clients with custom website and digital experience work.
• Digital Deployment: Drupal-based digital agency focused exclusively on government and public-sector website development and hosting. Highly comparable to Upanup in CMS choice, customer vertical, and service offering mix.

Others

• e.Republic: Government technology media and research organization (Government Technology, Governing magazines) with adjacent consulting and events. Comparable to Upanup as a fellow government-tech ecosystem participant, though not a direct competitor for website builds.

Emerging players

• Bang the Table: Provider of online community engagement platforms (EngagementHQ) for local governments and utilities. Comparable to Upanup's CiviKit engagement platform in serving the same civic engagement use case, though focused specifically on consultation tools rather than full website builds.
• Webbiquity: Mid-sized digital agency serving B2B and public-sector clients with website design, development, and marketing services. Comparable in scale and service scope to Upanup, with partial overlap in government and regulated-industry client work.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/upanup
• Facebookfacebook.com/upanupstudios
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/upanup-studios

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Upanup Studios