What HEROLD Business Data does

HEROLD Business Data GmbH is a Vienna-headquartered, privately held Austrian company operating the herold.at platform, the country's largest business and telephone directory, alongside its consumer-facing Gelbe Seiten, Telefonbuch, Arztsuche24.at (healthcare directory), oneHome (real estate), and a route planner. Founded in 1919 and operating from Mödling, the company pairs a free core directory listing service with a horizontal freemium SaaS-style marketing suite for Austrian small and medium enterprises (KMU), including full-service websites, Online Complete multi-platform listing distribution, SEO/SEA, social-media ads, domain registration, online booking tools (Online Terminbuchung) for service businesses, and marketing data solutions.

The business model layers a free, SEO-driven directory and phone book (the consumer-facing acquisition engine) with paid marketing services monetised on recurring subscriptions and quote-based packages. Go-to-market is sales-led with a self-service portal for free listings and free diagnostic tools (KI-Sichtbarkeits-Check, Sichtbarkeits-, Website-, SEO-Checks) feeding into free consultations that convert SMEs into marketing customers. Marketing channels span herold.at SEO, content/ratgeber guides, an email newsletter (9,000+ subscribers), and active social accounts across Facebook, LinkedIn, Xing, YouTube, and Pinterest.

The technology stack centres on a comprehensive Austrian business database serving branches and regions across all nine federal states, supplemented by Google and Azure single sign-on for the UserZone. Revenue is generated from subscription/marketing service fees, premium directory positioning, freemium listing upgrades, and marketing data monetisation. Customer reporting on marketing pages varies (10,000+ KMU, 30,000+ customers, and 45,000+ businesses cited on different pages), making scale precise but signalling a long-tail, horizontal SME base.

Name

HEROLD Business Data

Legal name

HEROLD Business Data GmbH

Website

https://herold.at

Company type

Private

Founded year

1919

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

HEROLD Business Data operates herold.at, Austria's largest business and telephone directory, providing free SME listings plus a recurring digital marketing suite (websites, SEO/SEA, social ads, domains, online booking) to Austrian small and medium enterprises.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Business Directory & Digital Marketing Platform

NAICS

Directory and Mailing List Publishers (51314), Media Buying Agencies (541830), Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services (5418)

SIC

Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro primary industry

Enterprise Application Reporting, BI & Analytics Enablement (BPAEAGAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

Business Intelligence, Reporting & Visualization Services (BPAEAHAD)

Keywords

• Business directory
• Digital marketing
• Local search
• Online visibility
• Website creation

Headquarters

HQ city

Mödling

HQ country

Austria

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Digital Marketing Services: Revenue from website creation, SEO, Google Ads, social media advertising, and domain registration services for businesses
2. Premium Business Listings: Fee-based premium positioning and visibility upgrades on the herold.at business directory
3. Free Basic Listings: Free company entries generate leads and customer acquisition, with conversion to paid services
4. Marketing Data Solutions: Data solutions and analytics services for businesses

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

HEROLD Business Data operates herold.at, Austria's largest business and telephone directory, and provides digital marketing services to Austrian SMEs. The platform offers free basic business listings alongside premium digital marketing solutions including website creation, SEO, SEA, social media advertising, online booking tools, and AI visibility optimization.

Product overview

HEROLD Business Data operates herold.at, Austria's largest business and branch directory, offering a comprehensive digital marketing platform. The core product consists of the business search directory (Firmensuche) and telephone directory (Telefonbuch/Personensuche), which provide company and person search capabilities. The marketing solutions portfolio includes Website Creation (website builder and full-service websites), Online Complete (multi-directory listing management), SEO & SEA services (Google Search Ads, Google Banner Ads, Social Media advertising), Online Terminbuchung (appointment booking tool), and Domains. Free assessment tools include the KI-Sichtbarkeits-Check (AI visibility), Sichtbarkeits-Check (directory presence), Website-Check, SEO-Check, and Marketing-Kompass. Additional services include Marketingdaten Online, a newsletter with over 9,000 subscribers, and the free Firmeneintrag for business listings. Sub-brands include Arztsuche24 (medical directory), oneHome (real estate), and the Herold Karriereportal (career site).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• 45,000+ businesses trust Herold for their digital marketing needs

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

AI capability2 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• BrilluxminorGTM or Marketing PartnerBrillux is a full-range supplier and direct provider of paints and coatings with over 12,000 perfectly coordinated products. With more than 200 branches in Europe, Brillux stands for quality and proximity to trades. Partnership focuses on joint marketing and reaching SMEs in the DACH region.
• Opticon Handels GmbHminorGTM or Marketing PartnerFor over 35 years, OPTICON Handels GmbH has been the largest service provider in Austria for owner-managed optical and hearing aid businesses. The company supports its over 240 members in purchasing, marketing, and strategic business management questions.
• point-S ÖsterreichminorGTM or Marketing PartnerFrom the union of 13 visionary tire specialists, point-S Austria emerged. With over 60 locations and around 20% market share, the network today ranks among the leading providers with further growth potential.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• firmenabc: Austrian business directory focused on company information and marketing data. Competes directly with Herold inside Austria for premium business listings and B2B marketing data.
• Solocal (PagesJaunes): France's PagesJaunes directory operator (now Solocal), offering business listings, digital marketing services, and SEO/website solutions to French SMBs. Same legacy Yellow Pages heritage transitioning into digital marketing services for SMEs.
• Cylex: Austrian/Czech business directory offering free and premium listings, ratings, and SMB marketing tools. Direct competitor to Herold's core directory franchise in Austria.
• 11880: German telephone directory and business search platform. Direct functional peer to Herold's Telefonbuch and Firmensuche, with overlapping paid listing and marketing services.
• Gelbe Seiten: Germany's flagship business directory and Yellow Pages equivalent. Operates the same freemium-listing plus premium-marketing-services model as Herold, just at larger scale and in the German market. Closest functional and business-model analog.

Broad incumbents

• LocaliQ: Digital marketing platform (part of Gannett/USA Today network) selling websites, SEO, SEM, and advertising to SMBs. Mirrors Herold's bundled marketing-services offering to SMEs at significantly larger scale in the US market.
• Yelp: Global reviews-led business discovery platform. Competes with Herold for SMB marketing budget (advertising, premium listings) and end-user discovery traffic, but with vastly larger scale and a reviews-first model.
• Google Business Profile: Free business listing and discovery product from Google, dominating local search results. Primary substitute for Herold's directory traffic and the biggest structural threat to directory-listing monetization.

Regional players

• Yell: UK's Yellow Pages operator, now repositioned as a digital marketing services platform for British SMBs. Same Yellow Pages-to-digital transformation arc as Herold, but in the UK market.

Emerging players

• Treatwell: European online booking marketplace for beauty and wellness. Overlaps with Herold's Online Terminbuchung for salons and beauty studios, with deeper vertical specialization and consumer-side marketplace dynamics.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCyaxJo8N2x2fSr_-hwvKafQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/derherold
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/herolddigital
• Pinterestat.pinterest.com/herolddigital

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A1 record

Investments2 records

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

Frequently asked questions about HEROLD Business Data