Kartoza
Kartoza is a South Africa-based FOSS GIS services firm whose team includes core developers of QGIS, GeoServer, and PostGIS. It offers managed geospatial hosting, the MyCivitas municipal asset platform, the BIMS biodiversity system, consulting, and training to government, conservation, and enterprise clients across six continents.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersStellenbosch, South Africa
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Kartoza does
Kartoza (Pty) Ltd is a privately held, Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) geospatial services firm founded in 2014 by Tim Sutton and Gavin Fleming, headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa, with a European subsidiary (Kartoza Lda) in Lisbon, Portugal. The company specializes in enterprise-grade GIS hosting, consulting, and vertical domain platforms, and counts core maintainers of major open source GIS projects—QGIS, GeoServer, PostGIS, GeoNode, and QField—among its team, a positioning that differentiates it from generic GIS resellers.
The product portfolio is structured as a platform-plus-services stack. The core recurring-revenue products are GeoSpatial Hosting, a fully managed cloud service for deploying GeoServer, PostGIS, QGIS Server, and GeoNode with pricing starting at R2,500/month (ZAR), €125/month (EUR), or $140/month (USD); MyCivitas, a municipal infrastructure asset management platform; and BIMS, a biodiversity information management system used by conservation organisations such as SANParks. These are complemented by professional services including consulting, geospatial project management, expert-led QGIS/PostGIS/GeoServer training (online and on-site), and specialized add-ons such as the SAGTA Map Exporter.
Kartoza monetizes through a mix of subscription hosting, professional services (consulting, training), and vertical SaaS platforms. Go-to-market combines enterprise field sales for government and large organizations, a community-led model driven by upstream open source contributions that build credibility and inbound demand, and a self-serve hosting tier for smaller accounts. The firm serves conservation organizations, local governments, enterprise GIS users, and GIS professionals, with a stated customer base of 100+ clients across six continents and regional offices enabling local currency billing and GDPR-compliant hosting for European buyers.
Kartoza firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Kartoza
- Legal name
- Kartoza (Pty) Ltd. & Kartoza Lda
- Website
- https://kartoza.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Kartoza is a South Africa-based FOSS GIS services firm whose team includes core developers of QGIS, GeoServer, and PostGIS. It offers managed geospatial hosting, the MyCivitas municipal asset platform, the BIMS biodiversity system, consulting, and training to government, conservation, and enterprise clients across six continents.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Kartoza industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Geospatial Software and GIS Solutions
- NAICS
- Custom Computer Programming Services (541511), Software Publishers (5132), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371), Services-Educational Services (8200)
- akta.pro primary industry
- GIS & Spatial Data Management Platforms (BPAMANAK)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Geospatial Data Management & Enterprise GIS (Geodatabases, Web GIS, Spatial Analytics) (EUAHAKAC), Open-Source & Developer Communities (BPAMABAM)
Keywords
Where Kartoza is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Stellenbosch
- HQ country
- South Africa
- HQ region
- Africa
Offices2 records
Markets served
Kartoza business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Managed Geospatial Hosting: Subscription-based fully managed cloud hosting for GIS infrastructure including GeoServer, PostGIS, QGIS Server, GeoNode with automatic backups, SSL, and 24/7 monitoring. Priced starting from R2,500/month (ZAR), €125/month (EUR), or $140/month (USD)
- Professional Training Courses: Expert-led courses for QGIS, PostGIS, GeoServer and custom corporate training. Offered online and on-site for individuals and teams
- GIS Consulting Services: Strategic GIS consulting for architecture, data strategy, and technology selection. Includes geospatial project management for complex GIS implementations
- Municipal Asset Management Software: MyCivitas platform for municipal infrastructure lifecycle management including asset inventory, condition assessments, maintenance scheduling, and budget forecasting
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | GeoSpatial Hosting starting tier |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels5 records
Kartoza product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Kartoza provides Free and Open Source GIS (FOSS GIS) services including fully managed cloud hosting for geospatial infrastructure (GeoServer, PostGIS, QGIS Server, GeoNode), domain-specialized software platforms (MyCivitas for municipal asset management and BIMS for biodiversity information management), expert-led GIS training courses, and strategic consulting and project management services. They are core developers of major open source GIS projects and serve 100+ clients across 6 continents.
Product overview
Kartoza offers a portfolio of open-source geospatial solutions organized as a platform-plus-services architecture. The core offerings include GeoSpatial Hosting (managed cloud infrastructure for deploying GeoServer, PostGIS, QGIS Server, and GeoNode), MyCivitas (municipal asset management), BIMS (biodiversity information management), and professional Training Courses. These are complemented by specialized tools like SAGTA Map Exporter and consulting/project management services. Additionally, Kartoza delivers custom GIS platforms for specific use cases such as the SANParks Biodiversity Information Management System, EnergyAccess Explorer Kenya, and National Land Audit solutions. All offerings are built on open-source technologies with no vendor lock-in.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- MyCivitas: Municipal asset management platform for local governments to track infrastructure lifecycle from desktop to field.
- BIMS
- GeoSpatial Hosting
- SAGTA Map Exporter
Products and services
- GeoSpatial Hosting Fully managed cloud hosting for GIS infrastructure enabling instant deployment of GeoServer, PostGIS, QGIS Server, and GeoNode with automatic backups, SSL, scaling, and 24/7 monitoring. For organisations and enterprises requiring enterprise-grade geospatial infrastructure.
- MyCivitas Municipal asset management platform providing complete lifecycle management for municipal infrastructure, enabling asset inventory, condition assessments, maintenance scheduling, and budget forecasting with spatial intelligence. For local governments and municipalities.
- BIMS (Biodiversity Information Management System) Comprehensive biodiversity data platform for conservation organisations to collect, manage, and analyse species occurrence data, featuring habitat mapping, conservation analytics, and citizen science integration.
- Training Courses Expert-led professional GIS education covering QGIS fundamentals to advanced techniques, spatial database design, web mapping, GeoServer administration, and custom corporate training. Offered online and on-site for individuals and corporate teams.
- SAGTA Map Exporter Tool for exporting compliant maps for South African surveying and cadastral requirements. For surveyors and cadastral professionals in South Africa.
- Consulting Services Strategic GIS consulting services for architecture, data strategy, and technology selection. For organisations planning or expanding GIS implementations.
- GeoSpatial Project Management End-to-end project management services for complex GIS implementations and deployments. For organisations executing complex geospatial projects.
Quantifiable outcome
- Serving 100+ clients across 6 continents
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Kartoza
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Kartoza technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Kartoza partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.
- TomorrowNowminorClimate intelligence partnership for decision making. TomorrowNow provides climate intelligence capabilities that complement Kartoza's geospatial solutions for environmental monitoring and sustainability applications.
- BGEOminorOpen GIS and Water Solutions partnership. BGEO offers water management and GIS solutions that integrate with Kartoza's geospatial platform capabilities.
- LandInfo TechnologiesminorAsset Management Solutions Partner providing asset management expertise and integration with Kartoza's municipal asset management solutions like MyCivitas.
- Mergin MapscoreSeamless Field Data Collection and Collaboration integration. Mergin Maps provides mobile data collection capabilities that complement Kartoza's hosting and desktop GIS solutions.
- QFieldcoreProfessional Mobile GIS for Field Data Collection. QField provides mobile field data collection capabilities that integrate with Kartoza's open source GIS ecosystem.
Scale indicators2 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Kartoza competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Boundless (now part of Planet Labs): Boundless built enterprise GIS products and services on the same QGIS/PostGIS/GeoServer FOSS stack that Kartoza supports, and was the most direct commercial FOSS GIS competitor before being acquired by Planet Labs. Strong overlap in target customers and technology base.
- GIS Cloud: GIS Cloud offers cloud-hosted GIS mapping and data management for enterprises and governments, directly competing with Kartoza's GeoSpatial Hosting and consulting offering in the managed GIS infrastructure space.
- Azimap: Azimap provides open-source-based cloud GIS and mapping software for government and enterprise, with a similar FOSS-first value proposition and managed SaaS delivery model to Kartoza's hosting business.
- GeoDecisions: GeoDecisions is a geospatial IT and consulting firm delivering GIS implementation, data and hosting services to government and enterprise, closely mirroring Kartoza's enterprise GIS consulting and infrastructure delivery.
- Critigen (now part of IES): Critigen provided enterprise geospatial services, custom GIS application development and managed hosting for infrastructure and government clients - a very similar services-plus-hosting mix to Kartoza's.
Broad incumbents
- Esri: Esri is the dominant proprietary GIS vendor (ArcGIS) and the principal competitor Kartoza displaces in cost-sensitive or open-source-mandated accounts. It competes broadly across the same enterprise, government and conservation customer base Kartoza serves.
- Carto: Carto is a location intelligence and spatial analytics cloud platform used by enterprises and analysts for large-scale geospatial workflows, adjacent to Kartoza's GeoSpatial Hosting and consulting offering with overlap in spatial data infrastructure buyers.
- Mapbox: Mapbox provides mapping platforms and location services to developers and enterprises, sharing the geospatial-platform category with Kartoza even though Mapbox focuses more on consumer/developer mapping APIs than enterprise GIS hosting.
- HERE Technologies: HERE is a large location platform providing geospatial data and services to enterprises and governments, serving as a broader incumbent in the same mapping and spatial data ecosystem where Kartoza operates.
Regional players
- Geoimage: Geoimage is an Australia-based geospatial services and satellite imagery provider serving government and mining clients in the Asia-Pacific region, comparable to Kartoza in its FOSS-friendly consulting and earth observation integration services.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Kartoza social profiles
Digital presenceKartoza financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Kartoza leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Kartoza funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Kartoza 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 Kartoza
What does Kartoza do?
Kartoza provides Free and Open Source GIS (FOSS GIS) services including fully managed cloud hosting for geospatial infrastructure (GeoServer, PostGIS, QGIS Server, GeoNode), domain-specialized software platforms (MyCivitas for municipal asset management and BIMS for biodiversity information management), expert-led GIS training courses, and strategic consulting and project management services. They are core developers of major open source GIS projects and serve 100+ clients across 6 continents.
Is Kartoza a public or private company?
Kartoza is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Kartoza founded?
Kartoza was founded in 2014. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Kartoza based?
Kartoza is headquartered in Stellenbosch, South Africa, in the Africa region.
How does Kartoza make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Managed Geospatial Hosting is the primary driver. The others are professional Training Courses, GIS Consulting Services and municipal Asset Management Software.
Who are Kartoza's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Boundless (now part of Planet Labs), GIS Cloud, Azimap, GeoDecisions and Critigen (now part of IES). Broad incumbents are Esri, Carto, Mapbox and HERE Technologies. Geoimage is listed as a regional player.
Does Kartoza have an API?
No public API is recorded for Kartoza.
What industry is Kartoza in?
Kartoza's product category is Geospatial Software and GIS Solutions. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMANAK, GIS & Spatial Data Management Platforms, with a secondary code of EUAHAKAC, Geospatial Data Management & Enterprise GIS (Geodatabases, Web GIS, Spatial Analytics). Its NAICS code is 541511 and its SIC code is 7370.