What Polyas does

POLYAS GmbH is a German provider of secure online voting software, headquartered in Kassel with a regional entity in St. Gallen, Switzerland. The company develops and operates POLYAS CORE, a proprietary online voting platform built entirely in-house in Germany, hosted on Deutsche Telekom's Open Telekom Cloud within German data centers. POLYAS serves organizations conducting legally binding internal elections and votes, including political parties (CDU), universities (Universität Hamburg), cooperative banks (Volksbank Freiburg), insurance and pension entities (Swiss Life), copyright collection societies (GEMA), housing cooperatives (Lübecker Bauverein), churches, trade unions, municipalities, and associations. Over the past five years, more than 10 million voters have used the platform and more than 9,000 elections have been managed on it.

The company's technology stack centers on two product generations: POLYAS CORE 2.5, certified by the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) under Common Criteria standards (BSI-DSZ-CC-0862-V2-2021, valid until June 2026), which separates the voter registry from the ballot box into distinct system instances; and POLYAS CORE 3, the next-generation platform currently in BSI certification (BSI-DSZ-CC-1268, since April 2025), which introduces encryption on the voter's device, cryptographic ballot mixing, and individual/universal verification. The platform supports asynchronous online voting, live event voting, online registration, and a nomination module. POLYAS holds ISO/IEC 27001 certification (October 2023) covering development, operation, and support.

POLYAS operates a per-election SaaS pricing model across three tiers: Standard (free for up to 50 eligible voters), Verifiable (starting at €50 net, CORE 3-based with verification), and Certified (CORE 2.5 BSI-certified). Go-to-market combines a product-led self-service motion through a web-based election manager with an enterprise/full-service Election Management offering supported by dedicated election managers. Distribution is primarily direct, complemented by a partner referral program and a Swiss market presence via POLYAS (Schweiz) GmbH.

Name

Polyas

Legal name

POLYAS GmbH

Website

https://polyas.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

POLYAS is a German SaaS provider of BSI-certified online voting software (POLYAS CORE 2.5/3) serving political parties, universities, cooperative banks, churches, unions, and associations in Germany and Switzerland with secure, legally compliant digital elections.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Voting Software

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Electoral Support & Election Observation (BPADAGAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Virtual & Hybrid Event Registration & Streaming Access Platforms (THAHAFAM)

Keywords

• Online voting software
• Election management platform
• BSI-certified voting
• Digital election solutions
• Secure e-voting SaaS

Headquarters

HQ city

Kassel

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Online Election Software (SaaS): POLYAS provides its voting software as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering. Customers pay per election based on the number of eligible voters (pricing tiers: Standard, Verifiable, Certified). The service is delivered over the internet with availability guarantees of 98% during the election period. Additional paid features include hosting on Open Telekom Cloud in Germany. Election Management (full-service setup) is offered as a premium add-on.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

POLYAS provides a BSI-certified SaaS platform for conducting legally compliant online elections and votes for organizations. Core products include asynchronous Online-Wahlen (online voting over days or weeks), Live Voting (real-time in-event voting), a Registrierungsplattform (registration platform) for pre-election voter data collection, and a Nominierungsplattform (nomination platform) for candidate nominations. The platform is delivered as SaaS via the self-service Online-Wahlmanager, with full-service Election Management available for large or complex projects.

Product overview

POLYAS is a German online voting platform provider offering a comprehensive suite of election management products. The core offerings include Online-Wahlen (asynchronous online voting), Live Voting (real-time event polling), and a Registrierungsplattform (registration platform). The company operates two main voting systems: POLYAS CORE 2.5 (BSI-certified under Common Criteria, valid until 2026) and POLYAS CORE 3 (newer version currently in BSI certification). Products are offered in three pricing tiers: Standard (uses CORE 3 Base, free up to 50 voters), Verifizierbar (uses CORE 3 Verifiable with individual/universal verification), and Zertifiziert (uses CORE 2.5 with BSI certification). The Online-Wahlmanager serves as the self-service platform for election configuration and management. Additional modules include a Nominierungsplattform for candidate nominations. The platform targets organizations including cooperatives, trade unions, universities, chambers, churches, municipalities, parties, pension funds, companies, associations, and copyright societies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Online-Wahlen (Online Voting) Core asynchronous online voting system that enables eligible voters to cast ballots over a defined period (days or weeks). Supports various election types including church elections, association elections, university elections, party elections, and cooperative member votes for organizations in the DACH region.
• Live Voting Real-time voting and polling module that enables organizations to conduct votes and elections during live events with immediate results display.
• Registrierungsplattform (Registration Platform) Online registration platform for collecting current voter data before an election takes place; supports pre-election registration workflows for organizations running online votes.
• Nominierungsplattform (Nomination Platform) Online nomination platform for conducting digital candidate nominations as part of an election process.
• POLYAS CORE 2.5 (BSI-certified voting system) BSI Common Criteria-certified online voting software fulfilling international security standards (BSI-CC-PP-0037-2008 protection profile). Covers versions CORE 2.5.0, 2.5.3, and 2.5.4; separates voter registry from ballot box into distinct system instances for ballot secrecy.
• POLYAS CORE 3 (Next-generation voting system) Next-generation voting platform with enhanced cryptographic methods: ballots are encrypted on the voter's device before transmission, cryptographically mixed, and support individual and universal verification methods.
• Online-Wahlmanager (Self-Service Election Manager) Self-service web-based platform that allows customers to configure and manage online elections independently, including setting election periods, determining eligible voters, and managing voting projects without assistance.
• Election Management (Full-Service) Full-service managed election offering in which a dedicated POLYAS election manager sets up the election, accompanies the customer throughout the entire process, and handles election configuration from planning to evaluation. Recommended for large-scale or complex election projects.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 10 million online voters in the last five years
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments10 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration11 records

AI capability2 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• datenschutz cert GmbHcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 25 October 2023datenschutz cert GmbH is the certification body that issued POLYAS its ISO/IEC 27001 certification in October 2023, verifying POLYAS's information security management system (ISMS) for the development, operation, and support of its online voting platform.
• datenschutz nord GmbHcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 January 2022datenschutz nord GmbH has served as POLYAS's external Information Security Officer (Informationssicherheitsbeauftragter) since 2022. Lars Meyer from datenschutz nord acts as the primary contact. The firm also supported the ISO/IEC 27001 certification process and ISMS introduction.
• Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz (DFKI)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2021DFKI (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence) served as the independent evaluation body for POLYAS CORE 2.5.4 as part of the BSI Common Criteria certification process. DFKI conducted the technical evaluation of the voting system's architecture and functionality.
• Deutsche Telekom AG / Open Telekom CloudcoreTechnology or IntegrationPOLYAS uses Deutsche Telekom's Open Telekom Cloud (OTC) as its primary hosting infrastructure for online elections. OTC servers are located in German data centers and carry multiple certifications including ISO 27017, CSA STAR, ISO 27001, and ISO 9001. POLYAS offers this hosting option as a premium feature for customers requiring enhanced data sovereignty and security. The infrastructure supports elastic scalability up to 100,000 simultaneous connections and elections with six-figure eligible voter counts.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Scytl (now part of Paragon):
• Smartmatic: Smartmatic is a global incumbent in election technology, offering voting machines and election management systems for government/public-sector elections. Operates at much larger scale than POLYAS and is broadly comparable in the digital voting category, though focused on public-sector tenders.
• IDEMIA / IDEMIA Smart Identity (formerly Morpho): IDEMIA is a large identity and election technology provider serving government and public-sector elections worldwide. A broad incumbent comparable to POLYAS in the regulated voting category, with significantly greater scale and geographic reach.

Direct peers

• ElectionBuddy: ElectionBuddy is a SaaS online voting platform for organizations running elections (boards, associations, universities, unions). Directly comparable to POLYAS in product functionality and target customer base, though it focuses on North America rather than DACH.
• Election Runner: Election Runner provides online election management software for associations, boards, and member organizations. Comparable to POLYAS's self-service tier in functionality and SMB/mid-market positioning.
• Simply Voting: Simply Voting offers a secure online voting platform used by unions, associations, co-ops, and universities worldwide. Directly competes with POLYAS on feature set and customer verticals, with similar emphasis on security and auditability.
• Vote-Now (LUMI / Zoom Voting): LUMI provides digital voting, live polling, and AGM/election tools for AGMs, member meetings, and corporate governance. Overlaps with POLYAS's Live Voting and association-election use cases, especially for European listed-company and member-organization clients.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks1 record

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/POLYASVoting
• YouTubeyoutube.com/c/Polyas
• Facebookfacebook.com/POLYASVOTING
• LinkedInde.linkedin.com/company/polyas-gmbh

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Polyas