Knovel
Knovel is an Elsevier-owned engineering knowledge platform that aggregates 160 trusted sources and 75 million data points into searchable technical references, material property data, and workflow tools for engineering professionals, universities, and institutions.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2000
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Knovel does
Knovel is an engineering information platform that aggregates curated technical references, material property data, equations, and engineering tools into a single web-accessible knowledge product. The core product, the Knovel Platform, combines 160 trusted engineering sources, 98,000 engineering concepts, and 75 million data points, with workflow-integrated features including sortable property tables, interactive graphs, a material property search, an equations database, and a unit converter. The platform is positioned for use by engineering professionals and academic institutions, with explicit go-to-market emphasis on safety-critical and compliance-driven engineering decisions. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in New York (with the parent group headquartered in Amsterdam), the company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Elsevier, which is itself part of RELX.
Knovel serves two principal customer segments. The first is enterprise and institutional engineering, including named verticals such as Aerospace & Defense, Chemical Engineering, Corporate, Engineering Design & Construction, Equipment Manufacturing, Energy, and Education & Research. The second is academia, where universities and research institutions license the platform to extend industry-grade reference tools to students and faculty. Customers authenticate via institutional identity provider (IdP) sign-in or individual accounts, supporting a hybrid distribution model that combines enterprise field sales with self-serve web access at app.knovel.com.
The business model is a B2B subscription service. Revenue is generated through annual or multi-year institutional licenses (site-wide or per-seat) sold to enterprises, universities, and public institutions; individual accounts are also available. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed, with sales executed through 'Request a Demo' and 'Contact Sales' motions. Marketing is primarily content-driven and executed through Elsevier-branded channels (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube) plus on-site industry pages and downloadable brochures. The company has no public listing, no independent funding since 2010, and no disclosed API, SDK, patents, or AI/ML features in the source data.
Knovel firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Knovel
- Legal name
- Knovel Corporation
- Website
- https://Www.KNOVEL.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2000
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Knovel is an Elsevier-owned engineering knowledge platform that aggregates 160 trusted sources and 75 million data points into searchable technical references, material property data, and workflow tools for engineering professionals, universities, and institutions.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Knovel industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Engineering Technical Reference and Material Property Data Platform
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (513210), Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services (519290)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Knowledge Management & Wikis (BPAMAMAH)
Keywords
Where Knovel is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Knovel business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others
Revenue model
- Institutional Subscriptions: Annual or multi-year subscriptions to institutions (enterprises, universities, research organizations) that provide access to their employees, students, and faculty. Revenue derived from site-wide or per-seat licenses.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Institutional Access - Organization-based licensing |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels6 records
Knovel product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Knovel is a subscription-based engineering knowledge platform that aggregates trusted technical references, material property data, equations, and interactive engineering tools (sortable tables, interactive graphs, and a unit converter) into a single searchable web application. It is sold primarily through institutional licenses to enterprises, universities, and public institutions, with end users being engineers, researchers, faculty, and students. The platform is positioned to deliver faster access to validated engineering data for safety, compliance, design, and procurement decisions.
Product overview
Knovel is a single unified engineering knowledge platform that provides access to technical references, material property data, and engineering tools. The core Knovel Platform aggregates 160 trusted sources, 98,000 engineering concepts, and 75 million data points, featuring Technical References, Powerful Sortable Tables, Interactive Graphs, Material Property Search, Equations, and Unit Converter tools.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Knovel Platform Web-based engineering knowledge platform that delivers trusted technical references, material property data, equations, and interactive tools (sortable tables, interactive graphs, and a unit converter) to engineering professionals, students, faculty, and researchers. Sold primarily as an institutional subscription license to enterprises, universities, and public institutions, with individual accounts also available.
Quantifiable outcome
- Time savings for engineers in finding critical information from reliable sources
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Knovel
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments8 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Knovel technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature6 records
Knovel partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- ElseviercoreElsevier is the parent company and owner of Knovel. Knovel is part of Elsevier's engineering information solutions portfolio. Elsevier provides the infrastructure, brand authority, and distribution network for Knovel's engineering knowledge platform.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Knovel competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- ScienceDirect: Elsevier's flagship full-text scholarly platform. Sibling product within Elsevier with deep overlap on curation, institutional licensing, and engineering/research accounts; the closest direct comparator inside the parent group.
- OnePetro: Society of Petroleum Engineers-led upstream oil & gas technical content library. Same engineering-knowledge-platform category as Knovel, sold via institutional subscription with curated technical references and is therefore the cleanest cross-vertical benchmark.
- Total Materia: Subscription material properties and standards database primarily for metals and polymers. Direct competitor in Knovel's material-property-search use case, with comparable institutional distribution and engineering vertical focus.
Broad incumbents
- S&P Global Engineering Solutions (IHS): S&P Global's engineering standards, codes, and specifications portfolio (formerly IHS Markit). Sells curated engineering reference content and standards to institutions and enterprises across most of the same verticals Knovel serves.
- ASME Digital Collection: Society publisher platform hosting mechanical and aerospace engineering codes, standards, and journals. Sells institutional access to engineering references overlapping with Knovel's aerospace and design verticals.
- ASTM Compass: ASTM's standards and engineering content platform. Competes for institutional access budgets against Knovel on engineering reference content, especially inside materials, energy, and design/construction verticals.
Emerging players
- MatWeb: Online material property database commonly used as a free reference alternative. Competes with Knovel's material property search on accessibility/cost, anchoring the lower-bound pricing pressure on Knovel's subscription.
- Ansys Granta MI: Materials information management platform from Ansys targeting engineering enterprises. Embeds curated materials data inside CAE/CAD workflows; differs from Knovel on integration vs. standalone reference, but competes for the same enterprise engineering data budget.
- Wolfram Alpha / Mathematica: Computational knowledge engine widely used by engineers for equations, units, and property lookups. Adjacent competitor on interactive equations and unit conversion — features Knovel explicitly markets.
- Engineering.com (PDH/PDHonline): Online engineering community and reference resource serving continuing-education and practical engineering workflows. Adjacent competitor for engineers' attention and reference budget, particularly in design/construction verticals.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Knovel social profiles
Digital presenceKnovel financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Knovel leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Knovel funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds4 records
Investors6 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Knovel 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 Knovel
What does Knovel do?
Knovel is a subscription-based engineering knowledge platform that aggregates trusted technical references, material property data, equations, and interactive engineering tools (sortable tables, interactive graphs, and a unit converter) into a single searchable web application. It is sold primarily through institutional licenses to enterprises, universities, and public institutions, with end users being engineers, researchers, faculty, and students. The platform is positioned to deliver faster access to validated engineering data for safety, compliance, design, and procurement decisions.
Is Knovel a public or private company?
Knovel is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Knovel founded?
Knovel was founded in 2000. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Knovel based?
Knovel is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does Knovel make money?
One revenue line is on record: institutional Subscriptions.
Who are Knovel's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are ScienceDirect, OnePetro and Total Materia. Broad incumbents are S&P Global Engineering Solutions (IHS), ASME Digital Collection and ASTM Compass. Emerging players are MatWeb, Ansys Granta MI, Wolfram Alpha / Mathematica and Engineering.com (PDH/PDHonline).
Does Knovel have an API?
No public API is recorded for Knovel.
What industry is Knovel in?
Knovel's product category is Engineering Technical Reference and Material Property Data Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAMAH, Knowledge Management & Wikis. Its NAICS code is 513210 and its SIC code is 7372.