Kwanko
Kwanko is a performance marketing platform that connects 2,500+ advertisers with 150,000+ publishers across Europe and Latin America for affiliate, lead generation, traffic, and app install campaigns.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2003
- HeadquartersHamburg, Germany
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Kwanko does
Kwanko SAS is a privately-held performance marketing company founded in 2003 and headquartered in Bourg-la-Reine, France, operating across eight countries in Europe (France, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Poland, UK, Italy) and Latin America (Brazil, Mexico). The company runs a 360-degree affiliate and performance marketing network, connecting more than 2,500 active advertisers with over 150,000 direct publishers and a database exceeding 500 million opt-in email addresses. Its core platform, SKALE, provides monitoring, tracking, reporting, ROI optimization, and anti-fraud tooling, augmented by proprietary modules including PartnerTag (retargeting technology), a Carbon Calculator for measuring campaign emissions, server-to-server and first-party tracking, and a 2025-launched statistical compensation mechanism for sales lost to cookie-consent rejections. Specialized vertical networks (Education Network, Finance Network) and a TikTok Shop offering extend coverage beyond a single horizontal offering.
The business model is performance-based: advertisers pay via CPA (Cost Per Acquisition), CPL (Cost Per Lead), CPC (Cost Per Click), or CPM (Cost Per Mille) rates, allowing the company to earn transaction-linked commissions on sales, leads, traffic, and app downloads generated through the publisher network. Go-to-market combines local enterprise sales teams in each operating country with self-serve advertiser and publisher portals. Kwanko generated cumulative client revenue in excess of €2 billion and serves enterprise reference customers across retail (Carrefour, Walmart, Samsung, Fnac), travel (Booking.com, trivago, AccorHotels), automotive (Volkswagen, BMW, Toyota, Audi, Renault), telecom (Orange, Vodafone), finance (Cofidis, Groupama, Swiss Life), energy (Engie), and education.
The company employs 51–100 people, remains founder-led by CEO François Bieber, has not taken identifiable external funding, and is distinguished operationally by deep GDPR/LGPD compliance, ISO 27001-aligned hosting, and consecutive years of EcoVadis (Silver) and Greenly (Gold) sustainability recognition.
Kwanko firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Kwanko
- Legal name
- Kwanko SAS
- Website
- https://kwanko.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2003
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Kwanko is a performance marketing platform that connects 2,500+ advertisers with 150,000+ publishers across Europe and Latin America for affiliate, lead generation, traffic, and app install campaigns.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Kwanko industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Performance Marketing Platform
- NAICS
- Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services (5418), Other Services Related to Advertising (54189)
- SIC
- Services-Advertising (7310), Services-Advertising Agencies (7311)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Affiliate Marketing & Partner Networks (BPAMALAI)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Affiliate & Partner Marketing (Performance Partnerships) (BPAFACAE), Affiliate Marketing & Partner Program Management (MPAAACAD)
Keywords
Where Kwanko is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Hamburg
- HQ country
- Germany
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices8 records
Markets served
Kwanko business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Performance-based Affiliate Marketing: Kwanko charges advertisers based on performance outcomes including CPA (Cost Per Acquisition), CPL (Cost Per Lead), CPC (Cost Per Click), CPM (Cost Per Mille). The company earns commissions on sales, leads, traffic, and app downloads generated through their publisher network.
- Email Marketing Services: Revenue generated through email marketing campaigns leveraging their database of 500 million+ opt-in email addresses. Advertisers pay for access to the email database and campaign management.
- Technology Platform Services: Platform access fees for using Kwanko's tracking, monitoring, reporting, and anti-fraud technology suite.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Outcome Based/ Performance | Pay-as-you-go | Performance-based pricing tailored to advertiser objectives |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels10 records
Kwanko product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Kwanko operates an international performance marketing platform that connects advertisers with a network of 150,000+ direct publishers to deliver affiliate marketing, lead generation, traffic, app installs, and influencer campaigns measured on a CPA/CPL/CPC/CPM basis. The SKALE platform provides campaign monitoring, tracking, reporting, ROI optimization, and anti-fraud tools, supported by vertical networks (Education, Finance), Kwanko Studio for creative production, and an email database of 500 million+ opt-in addresses.
Product overview
Kwanko is a performance marketing platform operating as a 360° partner for advertisers, publishers, and agencies. The core offering consists of affiliate marketing, lead generation, traffic management, app downloads, influencer/social ads, and Kwanko Studio for creative production. The platform is built around the SKALE management system providing monitoring, tracking, reporting, ROI optimization, and anti-fraud tools, supported by an international network of 150,000+ direct publishers and 500 million email addresses. Specialized vertical networks include the Education Network and Finance Network. Additional features include the Carbon Calculator for measuring campaign environmental impact, PartnerTag for retargeting, and a Program Directory for browsing campaigns. Kwanko Academy serves as the company's knowledge and content hub. The company also offers a TikTok Shop integration for social commerce.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- SKALE Affiliate program management platform providing monitoring, tracking, reporting, ROI optimization, and anti-fraud tools for advertisers and publishers running performance marketing campaigns on a CPA, CPL, CPC, or CPM basis.
- Kwanko Studio Creative production studio delivering 100% performance-oriented creative solutions for campaigns across display, rich media, standard, and premium formats on behalf of advertisers.
- Education Network Specialized publisher network focused on the education sector, enabling advertisers to reach education-related audiences through performance-marketing partnerships.
- Finance Network Specialized publisher network focused on the finance sector, enabling financial-services advertisers to reach finance-interested audiences through performance-marketing partnerships.
- TikTok Shop Offering for TikTok Shop advertising, enabling brands to advertise and monetize content on the TikTok platform via Kwanko's performance marketing infrastructure.
Quantifiable outcome
- 2B+ EUR in revenue generated for clients
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Kwanko
Customer profileNamed customers30 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Kwanko technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature8 records
Kwanko partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- EcoVadiscoreEcoVadis is the worldwide reference for corporate sustainability ratings. Kwanko has been audited by EcoVadis for four consecutive years, achieving Silver Medal status (74/100) in 2026, ranking in the top 6% of advertising sector companies and top 88th percentile globally.
- GreenlycoreGreenly provides carbon footprint assessment and monitoring services. Kwanko achieved Gold Medal status for their greenhouse gas emissions management, reducing emissions from 6.7 to 4.4 kilotonnes. Greenly's platform helps Kwanko track and optimize their environmental impact.
- CPA (Syndicat du Marketing à la Performance)coreCPA is the French professional syndicate for performance marketing. Kwanko is actively involved in the CPA, working closely with peers on industry standards, GDPR compliance documentation, and email marketing best practices. The CPA charter governs ethical standards for email marketing in France.
- ValiuzminorValiuz is a technology alliance created by the Mulliez Family Association (AFM), uniting 19 brands including Auchan, Boulanger, Leroy Merlin, and Decathlon. With 50+ million customers across 3,520 stores and 1.7 billion omnichannel transactions, Valiuz collects, manages, and monetizes data for retail media purposes.
- IAB EuropeminorKwanko is listed as an IAB Europe vendor member, participating in industry transparency initiatives for digital advertising.
- Institut du Numérique ResponsableminorKwanko is a signatory of the Responsible Digital Charter and member of the Institut du Numérique Responsable, promoting sustainability, accessibility, and transparency best practices in digital marketing.
Scale indicators10 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Kwanko competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Awin: Global affiliate marketing network headquartered in Europe with a similar two-sided advertiser/publisher model, comparable verticals, and direct head-to-head competition for European enterprise budgets.
- CJ Affiliate (Commission Junction): One of the largest global affiliate networks, owned by Publicis-owned affiliate platform group; competes directly with Kwanko for enterprise advertisers and operates a comparable CPA/CPL/CPC model.
- Rakuten Advertising: Global affiliate and performance marketing network under the Rakuten umbrella offering affiliate program management, attribution, and influencer capabilities overlapping with Kwanko's SKALE platform.
- Tradedoubler: European-headquartered performance marketing and affiliate network with very similar geographic footprint (pan-European) and comparable advertiser base in retail, finance, and travel verticals.
- Webgains: European-focused affiliate network with advertiser and publisher interfaces analogous to SKALE; competes for the same mid-market and enterprise advertisers across UK, Germany, France, and Spain.
- Impact: SaaS-style partner and affiliate marketing platform serving global enterprises; competes directly with Kwanko on tracking technology, partner discovery, and contract/payout automation.
- Partnerize: Affiliate and partner marketing SaaS platform with similar capabilities (tracking, attribution, anti-fraud, partner discovery) overlapping Kwanko's core SKALE offering.
- Admitad: Global affiliate network with strong European and LATAM presence, similar two-sided publisher/advertiser model, and direct overlap in retail, e-commerce, and finance verticals.
Broad incumbents
- Taboola: Larger native advertising and content-discovery platform overlapping with Kwanko's publisher monetization value proposition, but operating as a broader advertising incumbent rather than a pure affiliate network.
- The Trade Desk: Demand-side platform with growing performance and retail-media commerce capabilities; competes with Kwanko for advertiser budgets at the high end, though distinct in business model (DSP vs affiliate network).
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Kwanko social profiles
Digital presenceKwanko compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance6 records
Kwanko financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Kwanko leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Kwanko funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Kwanko 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 Kwanko
What does Kwanko do?
Kwanko operates an international performance marketing platform that connects advertisers with a network of 150,000+ direct publishers to deliver affiliate marketing, lead generation, traffic, app installs, and influencer campaigns measured on a CPA/CPL/CPC/CPM basis. The SKALE platform provides campaign monitoring, tracking, reporting, ROI optimization, and anti-fraud tools, supported by vertical networks (Education, Finance), Kwanko Studio for creative production, and an email database of 500 million+ opt-in addresses.
Is Kwanko a public or private company?
Kwanko is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Kwanko founded?
Kwanko was founded in 2003. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Kwanko based?
Kwanko is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, in the Europe region.
How does Kwanko make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Performance-based Affiliate Marketing is the primary driver. The others are email Marketing Services and technology Platform Services.
Who are Kwanko's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Awin, CJ Affiliate (Commission Junction), Rakuten Advertising, Tradedoubler, Webgains, Impact, Partnerize and Admitad. Broad incumbents are Taboola and The Trade Desk.
Does Kwanko have an API?
No public API is recorded for Kwanko.
What industry is Kwanko in?
Kwanko's product category is Performance Marketing Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMALAI, Affiliate Marketing & Partner Networks, with a secondary code of BPAFACAE, Affiliate & Partner Marketing (Performance Partnerships). Its NAICS code is 5418 and its SIC code is 7310.