Cottage Labs
Cottage Labs LLP provides bespoke open-source repository development and consulting for universities, research institutes, and scholarly-communications organisations, specialising in the Samvera/Hyrax and InvenioRDM platforms across the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, and Japan.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2011
- HeadquartersEdinburgh, United Kingdom
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Cottage Labs does
Cottage Labs LLP is a Scottish limited-liability partnership founded in 2011 (registered company number SO303454) providing bespoke software development and consulting services to knowledge organisations. Its client base comprises universities, national research institutes, libraries, archives, and scholarly-communications bodies across the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, and Japan — with named enterprise implementations for Ruhr University Bochum and NIMS (Japan) and partner relationships with CERN, Crossref, Jisc, cOAlition S, SPARC, DOAJ, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, and Wellcome Trust. Headcount is stated at 1-10 employees, and the firm operates from Glasgow.
The company's core technical asset is expertise in the Samvera/Hyrax open-source repository framework, which it positions as an alternative to vendor-locked research data management. The underlying architecture — a web application layer, structured metadata database, secure S3-backed file storage, Sidekiq/Redis background workers, and a search engine — supports rich metadata, configurable multi-step submission and approval workflows, and extensibility via plugins and integrations. Service lines are organized into four product categories: Open Access Infrastructure, Data Visualisations, Data Repositories, and Bespoke Development; a separate InvenioRDM services brochure indicates the firm is broadening beyond a single repository framework.
Commercially, Cottage Labs runs a professional-services model with quote-based, custom engagement pricing (no public pricing). Distribution is direct enterprise sales targeting research and higher-education buyers; client acquisition is reinforced through open-source community presence (GitHub at CottageLabs) and ongoing participation in community events such as Open Repositories, Munin, OpenCost, and COAR. The firm is independently owned by its members as an LLP with no disclosed external investors, no funding rounds, no M&A activity, and no patent portfolio.
Cottage Labs firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Cottage Labs
- Legal name
- Cottage Labs LLP
- Website
- https://cottagelabs.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2011
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Cottage Labs LLP provides bespoke open-source repository development and consulting for universities, research institutes, and scholarly-communications organisations, specialising in the Samvera/Hyrax and InvenioRDM platforms across the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, and Japan.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Cottage Labs industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Research Data Management Software
- NAICS
- Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151), Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416), Software Publishers (5132)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming Services (7371), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Research Collaboration & Joint Labs (International Partnerships) (EDAIABAC)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Library & Learning Space Managed Operations (Circulation, Scheduling, Staffing) (EDAEALAL), Enterprise PaaS (App Runtime & Managed Application Platforms) (HDAEAKAB)
Keywords
Where Cottage Labs is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Edinburgh
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Cottage Labs business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Software Development and Consulting Services: Cottage Labs provides bespoke development services, consulting, and implementation support for open access infrastructure, data repositories, and research data management solutions. Services include project lifecycle support, ongoing development, and long-term support for clients.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels5 records
Cottage Labs product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Cottage Labs delivers bespoke development, consulting, and implementation services for open access infrastructure and research data repositories, built primarily on the open-source Samvera Hyrax framework. Its offerings cover data repositories, data visualisations, open access infrastructure, and custom software tailored to universities, research institutions, and scientific organisations that need to capture, manage, preserve, and share research outputs.
Product overview
Cottage Labs provides a portfolio of services for knowledge organizations centered around Open Access infrastructure and research data management. Their core offerings include Open Access Infrastructure, Data Visualisations, Data Repositories, and Bespoke Development. They also offer Hyrax, an open source repository platform built on the Samvera framework, which provides flexible workflows, rich metadata support, and scalable infrastructure for managing, preserving, and sharing research data across diverse disciplines.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Open Access Infrastructure
Companies that use Cottage Labs
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Cottage Labs technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Cottage Labs partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
14 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- CERNcoreCERN is listed as a partner organisation on Cottage Labs' website, indicating collaboration in research data infrastructure.
- CrossrefcoreCrossref is listed as a partner organisation, indicating integration and interoperability work with the scholarly communications infrastructure.
- cOAlition ScorecOAlition S is listed as a partner organisation, indicating involvement in Plan S and open access initiatives.
- JisccoreJisc is listed as a partner organisation, indicating collaboration with UK research and education network.
- University of OxfordcoreUniversity of Oxford is listed as a partner organisation.
- University of CambridgecoreUniversity of Cambridge is listed as a partner organisation.
- Wellcome TrustcoreWellcome Trust is listed as a partner organisation, indicating collaboration in health research data.
- Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)coreDOAJ is listed as a partner organisation for open access journal infrastructure.
- SparccoreSparc is listed as a partner organisation for scholarly communication advocacy.
- EUI (European University Institute)coreEUI is listed as a partner organisation.
- University of HullcoreUniversity of Hull is listed as a partner organisation.
- University of OslocoreUniversity of Oslo is listed as a partner organisation.
- NIMS (National Institute for Materials Science)coreNIMS partnered with Cottage Labs to deliver a Hyrax repository supporting metadata, discovery, authentication, and persistent identifiers for research datasets.
- World Nuclear AssociationminorWorld Nuclear Association is listed as a partner organisation.
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Cottage Labs competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- CERN (InvenioRDM): CERN develops InvenioRDM, an open source research data management repository platform. Although listed as a Cottage Labs partner, it is also a direct competitor for institutional repository deployments in the research and academic space.
- Center for Open Science (Open Science Framework): COS operates the Open Science Framework, an open source platform for research project management, data, and workflows. It overlaps with Cottage Labs in serving open scholarship infrastructure needs for academic institutions.
- LYRASIS: LYRASIS (which absorbed DuraSpace) hosts and supports the Samvera community and offers related repository services. It is the most direct comparable as it operates in the same Samvera ecosystem that Cottage Labs builds on, with overlapping institutional customers.
- Dryad: Dryad is a curated open data publishing platform and data repository service for research data. It targets the same institutional and scholarly publishing market segment with a more productized, hosted offering.
- Figshare: Figshare provides a hosted research data repository and discovery platform used by universities and publishers. It competes for the same institutional budget for data repository infrastructure that Cottage Labs serves with custom Hyrax builds.
- DataVerse (Institute for Quantitative Social Science): DataVerse is an open source research data repository platform hosted at Harvard and adopted by many institutions. It is a direct competitor for institutional repository implementations, particularly in academic contexts.
Emerging players
- DataCite: DataCite provides DOIs and persistent identifiers for research data and is a key piece of scholarly infrastructure. It is a partial overlap / complementary peer given Cottage Labs' integration work with persistent identifiers (Crossref, DOI ecosystem).
- Antleaf: Antleaf is a listed Cottage Labs partner that operates in the open scholarly infrastructure space. It is an emerging peer with overlapping focus on open repositories and research data tooling.
Others
- Crossref: Crossref is a DOI registration agency for scholarly publications. While a partner rather than direct competitor, both operate in scholarly communications infrastructure and overlap in serving research institutions and publishers.
Broad incumbents
- Digital Science: Digital Science is a portfolio company offering research workflow and data tools (including Figshare parent). It is a broader incumbent with overlapping products and significantly greater scale.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Cottage Labs social profiles
Digital presenceCottage Labs financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Cottage Labs leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Cottage Labs funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Cottage Labs 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 Cottage Labs
What does Cottage Labs do?
Cottage Labs delivers bespoke development, consulting, and implementation services for open access infrastructure and research data repositories, built primarily on the open-source Samvera Hyrax framework. Its offerings cover data repositories, data visualisations, open access infrastructure, and custom software tailored to universities, research institutions, and scientific organisations that need to capture, manage, preserve, and share research outputs.
Is Cottage Labs a public or private company?
Cottage Labs is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Cottage Labs founded?
Cottage Labs was founded in 2011. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Cottage Labs based?
Cottage Labs is headquartered in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Cottage Labs make money?
One revenue line is on record: software Development and Consulting Services.
Who are Cottage Labs's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are CERN (InvenioRDM), Center for Open Science (Open Science Framework), LYRASIS, Dryad, Figshare and DataVerse (Institute for Quantitative Social Science). Emerging players are DataCite and Antleaf. Crossref is listed as an others. Digital Science is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Cottage Labs have an API?
No public API is recorded for Cottage Labs.
What industry is Cottage Labs in?
Cottage Labs's product category is Research Data Management Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAIABAC, Research Collaboration & Joint Labs (International Partnerships), with a secondary code of EDAEALAL, Library & Learning Space Managed Operations (Circulation, Scheduling, Staffing). Its NAICS code is 54151 and its SIC code is 7371.