Knowledge Hub

What Knowledge Hub does

Knowledge Hub is a free-to-use digital collaboration platform serving the global public service community, owned and operated by Placecube Limited, a UK-registered private company (company #08721925) headquartered in Reading with over 20 years of UK public sector delivery experience. The platform enables cross-organisational knowledge sharing, professional networking, and communities of practice for UK government departments, local authorities, the NHS, police and fire services, regulatory bodies, and heritage organisations; established users include the Government Commercial Function (2,000+ commercial professionals), LACEF (1,000 council members), Historic England's Heritage Connects and HSHAZ programmes (60+ partners), and the Police Digital Service, which is accredited to Official-Sensitive status. Placecube also delivers sub-brands including Digital Place for Communities (the enterprise deployment of the platform) and Knowledge Hub Microsites (branded public mini-websites).

The platform is built on Liferay's open-source Digital Experience Platform (DXP) and hosted on SOC-1/ISAE-3402/SOC-2/SOC-3 compliant AWS datacentres within the UK. Core products comprise Collaboration Groups (communities of practice, project groups, document repositories, training groups), Digital Networks (flexible collaboration spaces for stakeholder engagement), and Microsites (public-facing branded websites), supported by a feature set that includes discussion forums, document and media libraries with real-time collaboration, wikis, structured knowledge bases, event calendars, ideas crowdsourcing with voting, dynamic data lists, and enterprise search. Identity integrations span Microsoft, Google, Active Directory, LinkedIn, LG Inform Plus, and OpenID Connect. Placecube holds ISO/IEC 27001 certification, Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation, is ICO-registered, and operates under GDPR and the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Knowledge Hub operates on a freemium business model that generates network effects through 120,000+ public service professionals across 5,000+ organisations and 80+ countries. Free individual membership and basic group creation (up to 6 groups per organisation, 500 members per group) seed the community; paid services — including ownership of private groups, digital networks, training, advertising and sponsorship, and licences — are monetised at the user, group-owner, or network-owner level on annual subscriptions, available through the UK government's G-Cloud procurement framework. The company is privately held with no disclosed external funding, a headcount of 11-50, and no disclosed revenue, making it a small, bootstrapped operator relative to the breadth of its public sector footprint.

Name

Knowledge Hub

Legal name

Placecube Limited

Website

https://khub.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Knowledge Hub is a freemium digital collaboration platform, operated by Placecube Limited from Reading, UK, serving 120,000+ public service professionals across 5,000+ organisations in the UK government, local authorities, police, and heritage sectors with communities of practice and knowledge-sharing tools.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Sector Collaboration Software

NAICS

Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services (519290), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Q&A and Knowledge Discovery Platforms (BPAMAAAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Q&A Knowledge Communities (MPACAJAD), Knowledge Management & Wikis (BPAMAMAH)

Keywords

• Public sector collaboration
• Digital community platform
• Knowledge sharing software
• Professional networking tools
• Online collaboration software

Headquarters

HQ city

Reading

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Freemium Membership: Free individual membership with basic group creation (up to 6 free open/restricted groups, limited to 500 members per group). This creates the community base and network effects.
2. Premium Group/Network Services: Chargeable services include ownership of private groups (all sectors), private sector ownership of open/restricted groups, digital networks, and digital community management training.
3. Advertising and Sponsorship: Revenue offset through Council Advertising Network for ad delivery and carefully selected sponsorship arrangements for groups and networks.
4. Professional Services and Training: Digital community and knowledge management training services provided as chargeable offerings.
5. Licensing: Licences for selling or advertising on the platform available for purchase, including via procurement frameworks such as G-Cloud.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Knowledge Hub is a free-to-use digital collaboration platform for the global public service community, enabling professional networking, knowledge sharing, and cross-organisational collaboration through collaboration groups, digital networks, microsites, discussion forums, document libraries, wikis, knowledge bases, blogs, and event management tools. It is built on Placecube's Liferay-based Digital Experience Platform called Digital Place for Communities and is operated by Placecube Limited, a UK-based open-source software specialist with over 20 years of public sector experience. Premium services such as private group ownership, digital networks, and training are offered via annual subscription, with the platform available through the G-Cloud procurement framework.

Product overview

Knowledge Hub is a free-to-use digital collaboration platform and online community for the global public service community, built on Placecube's Liferay-based Digital Experience Platform called Digital Place for Communities. The platform operates on a freemium model with the core Knowledge Hub offering free access to collaboration groups, digital networks, and microsites. These products share a common technology stack and allow organisations to create branded spaces for professional networking, knowledge sharing, and cross-organisational collaboration. Collaboration Groups serve as the primary tool for communities of practice; Digital Networks provide broader flexible collaboration spaces for network owners; and Microsites offer public-facing branded mini-websites for promoting campaigns and resources. The platform is complemented by features including discussion forums, document libraries, blogs, wikis, knowledge bases, event calendars, ideas management, polls, instant messaging, and real-time document collaboration.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Digital Place for Communities: A secure, scalable, and responsive platform designed to bring together disparate organisations and people, transcending departmental, organisational, IT, geographical, and even language boundaries.
• Knowledge Hub Microsites

Products and services

• Knowledge Hub Free-to-use digital collaboration platform for the global public service community, enabling professional networking, knowledge sharing, and cross-organisational collaboration through discussion forums, document libraries, blogs, wikis, and other digital tools. Targets public service professionals across government departments, local authorities, NHS, police, fire services, and regulatory bodies.
• Collaboration Groups Digital collaboration spaces for communities of practice, project groups, document repositories, or training groups. Free open/restricted groups available up to 6 per organisation (limited to 500 members); private group ownership is a chargeable subscription service available to all sectors.
• Digital Networks Flexible collaboration spaces that extend user reach and increase visibility. Network owners can engage with stakeholders through customisable Knowledge Hub digital network environments. Pricing is negotiated by agreement and available via G-Cloud procurement framework.
• Microsites Branded public mini-websites hosted on Knowledge Hub for promoting campaigns, resources, and projects. Fully branded with configurable page designs, responsive and accessible, featuring discussion forums, document libraries, news, and blogs.
• Digital Place for Communities Underlying Liferay-based Digital Experience Platform that powers Knowledge Hub. A secure, scalable, and responsive platform for bringing together organisations and people across departmental, organisational, IT, geographical, and language boundaries. Features include community creation, global reach with Microsoft/Google/Active Directory integration, mobile responsiveness, enterprise search, and collaboration tools including blogs, discussions, libraries, and real-time document collaboration.
• Digital Community and Knowledge Management Training Chargeable digital community and knowledge management training services. Professional services provided to organisations seeking to upskill teams in community management and knowledge sharing practices.
• Advertising and Sponsorship Licences Licences for selling or advertising on the Knowledge Hub platform, available by contacting [email protected]. Delivered via Council Advertising Network (CAN) for ad delivery and selected sponsorship arrangements for groups and networks. Available via G-Cloud procurement framework.

Named customers14 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration11 records

Feature13 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• LiferaycoreTechnology or IntegrationLiferals open-source Digital Experience Platform (DXP) serves as the foundation for Digital Place for Communities and Knowledge Hub. Placecube is described as the UK's preeminent Liferay Service Partner, enabling rapid deployment and customisation of the platform.
• AWS (Amazon Web Services)coreTechnology or IntegrationPlatform operates from SOC-1/ISAE-3402/SOC-2/SOC-3 compliant AWS datacentres in the UK, providing cloud infrastructure with enterprise-grade security and compliance.
• Council Advertising Network (CAN)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerCAN is responsible for delivering advertising on the Knowledge Hub website, providing revenue offset through carefully selected sponsorship and advertising arrangements.
• Crown Commercial Service (CCS)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCCS is the UK government's commercial organisation that helps the public sector save money when buying common goods and services. Knowledge Hub services are available through G-Cloud procurement framework.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Higher Logic: Higher Logic provides community and engagement platforms for associations and member-based organisations, with Q&A, discussion forums, and knowledge sharing features that directly overlap Knowledge Hub's core collaboration offering.
• Discourse: Discourse is an open-source community discussion platform offering Q&A, threaded discussions, and knowledge bases, comparable to Knowledge Hub's Discussions, Wikis, and Knowledge Base features.
• Circle: Circle is a community platform that enables organisations to build branded spaces with discussions, events, and courses, closely mirroring Knowledge Hub's groups, networks, and microsites model.
• Bevy: Bevy provides community-building software for enterprises, including events, discussion forums, and member engagement — comparable to Knowledge Hub's communities of practice and event management capabilities.
• Mighty Networks: Mighty Networks hosts paid membership communities with courses, discussions, and events, overlapping with Knowledge Hub's community-led learning and event collaboration features.

Broad incumbents

• Microsoft (Yammer / Viva Engage): Microsoft Viva Engage (formerly Yammer) is an enterprise social networking and communities platform bundled into the Microsoft 365 suite, providing a broader, incumbent alternative to Knowledge Hub for public sector collaboration.
• Slack (Salesforce): Slack is a widely deployed collaboration and messaging platform used across UK government departments, offering overlapping real-time collaboration capabilities to Knowledge Hub's discussion and group features.
• Confluence (Atlassian): Confluence is a knowledge management and wiki platform used by public sector teams, competing with Knowledge Hub's Wikis, Knowledge Base, and document collaboration features.
• Workplace by Meta: Workplace is a professional networking and collaboration platform offering groups, news feeds, and knowledge sharing — overlapping with Knowledge Hub's community and digital network capabilities.

Others

• Liferay: Liferay is the open-source Digital Experience Platform whose community edition underpins Knowledge Hub's Digital Place for Communities; as platform partner it is the structural enabler rather than a direct competitor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/knowledgehub
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/khub

Compliance7 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Knowledge Hub