Stayfriends
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2002
- HeadquartersBerlin, Germany
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
Stayfriends firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Stayfriends
- Legal name
- Ströer Connections GmbH
- Website
- https://stayfriends.de
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2002
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Stayfriends is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Berlin
- HQ country
- Germany
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Stayfriends business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Premium Membership (Gold): Paid subscription tier providing full messaging access with other members, profile visitor list viewing, full-size photo album browsing, and access to school wall comments and chats.
- Premium Membership (Gold*plus): Premium tier including all Gold features plus ad-free experience and anonymous profile browsing capability.
- Advertising: Display advertising shown to free and non-Gold*plus* members. Uses Google Analytics, Google Ads, Meta Remarketing, and re-targeting technologies.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Others | Free basic membership with profile creation and search access |
| Subscription | Monthly | Gold membership with full messaging and social features |
| Subscription | Monthly | Gold*plus membership with ad-free experience and anonymous browsing |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Stayfriends product offering
Product offeringCore offering
StayFriends is a German-language social networking platform that enables users to find and reconnect with former school classmates and teachers from kindergarten through high school. The platform operates on a freemium model, offering free basic profile and search access alongside paid Gold and Gold*plus* subscription tiers that unlock full messaging, profile visitor viewing, ad-free browsing, and anonymous profile visits. It serves over 15 million member entries across all 16 German federal states, with localized sites for Switzerland, Austria, France, and Sweden.
Product overview
StayFriends.de is a social reconnection platform operated by Ströer Connections GmbH, offering a single integrated product for finding and reconnecting with former school classmates. The platform is organized around a free tier (Basis-Mitgliedschaft) and two paid tiers (Gold-Mitgliedschaft and Gold*plus*-Mitgliedschaft) built on top of a core set of features: a school directory covering all 16 German states, a people search engine indexing over 15 million member entries, a class photo archive with over 1 million images, class reunion planning tools, and a teacher search. The platform also supports mobile apps for iOS and Android and offers a related service called Lebensfreunde with an integrated quick-registration flow.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- StayFriends Platform (stayfriends.de)
- StayFriends Mobile App (iOS and Android)
Quantifiable outcome
- 15 million member entries searchable
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Stayfriends
Customer profileSegments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Stayfriends technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
Stayfriends partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.
- Yasni.deminorPartner site where StayFriends member entries can be displayed, increasing visibility and the chance of being found by old school friends outside the main platform.
- German Schools (Ehemaligenverzeichnisse)coreStayFriends provides alumni directories (Ehemaligenverzeichnisse) to schools, allowing schools to display alumni on their own websites. This creates a channel for new member acquisition and strengthens school relationships.
- LebensfreundeminorLebensfreunde is a related dating platform also operated by Ströer Connections GmbH. StayFriends offers quick registration to Lebensfreunde using existing profile data, creating cross-platform user opportunities.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Stayfriends competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- LinkedIn: Professional networking platform that includes alumni-search features for universities and secondary schools. Functions as a partial substitute for career-oriented alumni reconnection that overlaps with StayFriends' adult user base, though without the photo/reunion tools.
- BeenVerified: US people-search and background-check subscription service. Comparable to StayFriends in monetization via paid tiers (subscription) for finding people and unlocking contact details, though broader in records covered and US-only in primary focus.
- MyHeritage: Global genealogy and family-history platform with photo recognition, family-tree building, and DNA matching. Shares StayFriends' nostalgia-driven, photo-archive-centric user experience and subscription monetization, though focused on multi-generational family rather than school alumni.
- Spokeo: US people-search and background-check service aggregating public records to help users find long-lost acquaintances. Comparable to StayFriends' people-search functionality but broader in scope (criminal records, addresses) and operating primarily in the US market.
- Ancestry: Leading genealogy platform with historical records, family trees, and DNA testing. Adjacent to StayFriends in leveraging archival content and subscription pricing for users seeking to reconnect with relatives and ancestral connections.
- Facebook: Global consumer social network that broadly substitutes for StayFriends' value proposition through Facebook Groups (school/class groups), photo memories, and friend-finding. Far larger scale but lacks StayFriends' specialized school-directory and class-photo curation.
- Pipl: Identity-resolution and people-search API provider that aggregates social profiles and contact information globally. Comparable to StayFriends' person search engine from a data-aggregation standpoint, though B2B-oriented and cross-vertical rather than focused on alumni.
Direct peers
- Classmates.com: US-based alumni networking platform founded in 1995 that helps users reconnect with former K-12 and college classmates, share yearbooks, and plan reunions. Closest direct competitor to StayFriends in the school-reunion niche, with overlapping value proposition, freemium model, and class-photo archive.
Regional players
- Yasni.de: German people-search engine that aggregates public profiles and shows StayFriends entries as part of its results. Functions as both a partner site (per StayFriends' privacy policy) and a partial substitute for finding former classmates, addressing the same DACH persona with a different product surface.
- Wer-kennt-wen.de: German consumer social network originally focused on reconnecting people from one's hometown and school days. Direct historical competitor to StayFriends in the German market with overlapping alumni use cases, though it has since pivoted to a general-purpose social network.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Stayfriends financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Stayfriends leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Stayfriends funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Stayfriends 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 Stayfriends
What does Stayfriends do?
StayFriends is a German-language social networking platform that enables users to find and reconnect with former school classmates and teachers from kindergarten through high school. The platform operates on a freemium model, offering free basic profile and search access alongside paid Gold and Gold*plus* subscription tiers that unlock full messaging, profile visitor viewing, ad-free browsing, and anonymous profile visits. It serves over 15 million member entries across all 16 German federal states, with localized sites for Switzerland, Austria, France, and Sweden.
Is Stayfriends a public or private company?
Stayfriends is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Stayfriends founded?
Stayfriends was founded in 2002. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Stayfriends based?
Stayfriends is headquartered in Berlin, Germany, in the Europe region.
How does Stayfriends make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Premium Membership (Gold) is the primary driver. The others are premium Membership (Gold*plus) and advertising.
Who are Stayfriends's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are LinkedIn, BeenVerified, MyHeritage, Spokeo, Ancestry, Facebook and Pipl. Classmates.com is listed as a direct peer. Regional players are Yasni.de and Wer-kennt-wen.de.
Does Stayfriends have an API?
No public API is recorded for Stayfriends.