Compass-Gruppe

What Compass-Gruppe does

Compass-Gruppe GmbH is a Vienna-based, family-owned provider of business information services founded in 1867, operating as Austria's leading digital Wirtschaftsinformation provider with approximately 90 employees. Its core product, the Wirtschafts-Compass, delivers 360-degree views of Austrian companies by aggregating and re-distributing data from the Austrian Firmenbuch (company register), Grundbuch (land register), ZMR (central residents register), and WiEReG (beneficial ownership register), combined with proprietary editorial research. The platform is delivered both via web interfaces (EASY self-serve and ACCOUNT registered access) and through the Compass-API, which provides direct programmatic integration into customer compliance, KYC, and credit decisioning workflows.

The company's revenue model combines subscription-based access to the Wirtschafts-Compass and API data delivery, transactional fees from HF Data — the largest billing center for Austrian government online databases — and managed services and consulting through its Domain Group subsidiaries RyCE (ICANN-compliant TLD backend hosting 2M+ domains across .ZA, .AFRICA, .DURBAN, .JOBURG, .CAPETOWN) and domainworx.consulting (TLD consulting for .WIEN, .KOELN, .COLOGNE, .TIROL). Adjacent products include Compliance-Screening, Monitoring, Immo-Bewertung (real estate valuation), APO24 (pharmacy emergency services portal), and opendata.host (developer-facing open data APIs).

Compass serves primarily financial institutions and insurance companies for credit decisions, due diligence, and risk management, with secondary verticals in telecom, industry, and institutional organizations. Distribution combines direct B2B sales with a strategic WKO (Austrian Federal Economic Chamber) partnership providing expedited access for chamber members, plus self-serve SMB channels. The company has been led by Hermann Futter for more than 30 years; his son Ferdinand Futter joined the leadership team in May 2026 with international experience and an explicit mandate for cross-border growth and product innovation.

Name

Compass-Gruppe

Legal name

Compass-Gruppe GmbH

Website

https://www.compass.at

Company type

Private

Founded year

1867

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Compass-Gruppe is a Vienna-based, family-owned provider of Austrian business information, operating the Wirtschafts-Compass platform, Compass-API, and HF Data government-database billing services. It serves financial institutions, insurers, telecom, industry, and WKO members, with an adjacent Domain Group providing ICANN-compliant TLD backend and consulting.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Business Information Services

NAICS

Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416)

SIC

Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro primary industry

Third-Party Risk, Vendor Due Diligence & Supply Chain Compliance (BPAEAPAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Compliance Technology, GRC Platforms & Controls Automation Advisory (BPAHAFAO)

Keywords

• Business information services
• Company registry data
• Compliance screening services
• Top-level domain services
• Real estate data

Headquarters

HQ city

Vienna

HQ country

Austria

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Wirtschafts-Compass Subscription: Subscription-based access to comprehensive business information about Austrian companies, including firmen, Gewerbebetriebe, Vereine, Grundstücksdaten, and monitoring services.
2. API Data Delivery: Revenue from providing standardized API interfaces allowing external systems to access company register, land register, and other business data directly.
3. HF Data Services: Company register extracts (Firmenbuchauszüge) and land register extracts (Grundbuchauszüge) plus data from the Central Residents Register (ZMR) through HF Data, the largest billing center for online databases in Austria.
4. RyCE TLD Backend Services: Technical backend services for Top-Level Domain operations including registry system hosting and management.
5. domainworx TLD Consulting: Consulting services for introduction and ongoing operation of new Top-Level Domains, including ICANN application process, technical infrastructure, and marketing.
6. opendata.host API Services: Open data APIs for developers including UID check, address check, and business search services.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Compass-Gruppe is Austria's leading provider of digital business information, delivering comprehensive 360-degree views of Austrian companies through the Wirtschafts-Compass platform. It integrates public registry data (Firmenbuch, Grundbuch, ZMR, WiEReG) with proprietary research and offers APIs, compliance screening, monitoring, and real estate valuation services to enterprise customers. Through subsidiaries RyCE and domainworx, it also operates Top-Level Domain (TLD) backend infrastructure and consulting services, managing over 2 million domains globally.

Product overview

Compass-Gruppe operates a platform-plus-modules architecture centered on the Wirtschafts-Compass as its core product, offering comprehensive Austrian business information including company data from the Firmenbuch, real estate data from the Grundbuch, and compliance screening services. The product portfolio includes HF Data (the largest billing center for Austrian government online databases providing company and land register extracts), the Compass-API for direct system integration with government databases (Firmenbuch, Grundbuch, ZMR, WiEReG), and specialized portals like APO24 for pharmacy services. The company also operates a Domain Business division through domainworx.consulting (TLD consulting) and RyCE (backend registry services), and offers opendata.host as a developer API platform. Additional modules include Compliance-Screening, Monitoring, and Immo-Bewertung (real estate valuation). The portfolio reflects a transformation from traditional publishing to an IT services provider for economic information, with the Compass-Datenbank GmbH subsidiary handling technical infrastructure.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Wirtschafts-Compass: Hauptprodukt der Compass-Gruppe – ein umfassendes Komplettbild von Österreichs Unternehmen mit Firmen, Gewerbebetrieben, Vereinen sowie Grundstücksdaten und Monitoring.
• RyCE
• domainworx.consulting
• APO24
• opendata.host
• Compass on air
• Compass Talks

Products and services

• Wirtschafts-Compass Flagship business information platform providing comprehensive 360-degree views of Austrian companies including firms, trade businesses, associations, real estate data, and monitoring capabilities for enterprise customers.
• Wirtschafts-Compass API Standardized API connecting to Austrian government databases including Firmenbuch, Grundbuch, ZMR, and WiEReG, allowing customers to integrate business and registry data directly into their own applications.
• Compass-Grundbuch / Firmenbuch Service providing access to the Austrian Company Register (Firmenbuch) and Land Register (Grundbuch), with EASY access without registration and ACCOUNT access with registration for retrieving company and property extracts.
• HF Data Largest billing center in Austria for online government databases, providing company register extracts (Firmenbuchauszüge), land register extracts (Grundbuchauszüge), and Central Register of Residents (ZMR) data on a transactional basis.
• Compliance-Screening Compliance screening service providing early warning systems for anti-money laundering, sanctions checks, and regulatory compliance verification for businesses.
• Monitoring Continuous monitoring service for tracking changes in company data, ownership structures, and regulatory status of Austrian businesses.
• Immo-Bewertung Real estate valuation service for property assessment in Austria, providing property pricing and market evaluation data.
• APO24 Online platform helping Austrian users find nearby pharmacies on emergency duty.
• opendata.host Developer platform offering open datasets and APIs including VAT ID verification (UID-Check), address verification (Adress-Check), and company search (Firmen-Suche) for Austrian business data.
• RyCE Backend registry provider for Top-Level Domains offering EPP-based shared registry systems with 99.99% high availability, operating TLDs including .ZA, .AFRICA, .DURBAN, .JOBURG, and .CAPETOWN.
• domainworx.consulting Consulting and management services for Top-Level Domain introduction and operations, including ICANN application support, technical infrastructure setup, and market launch execution for TLDs like .WIEN, .KOELN, .COLOGNE, and .TIROL.

Quantifiable outcome

• Access to comprehensive Austrian business data through single platform

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• WKO (Wirtschaftskammer Österreich)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAs a cooperation partner of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO), Compass provides quick and cost-effective access to the Wirtschafts-Compass for WKO members.
• DNS Africa LtdcoreTechnology or IntegrationTechnical partnership for TLD operations. RyCE collaborates with DNS Africa Ltd to provide high-quality technical solutions for operating Top-Level Domains in compliance with ICANN requirements.
• punkt.wien GmbH (.WIEN)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributordomainworx was responsible for the introduction, operation and marketing of .WIEN as the world's first geographic top-level domain in 2014. punkt.wien GmbH is the registry operator.
• dotKoeln GmbH (.KOELN/.COLOGNE)majorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributordotKoeln GmbH with over 38,000 registered domains is a customer of domainworx consulting and RyCE as technical backend solution. Business model optimized for these TLDs.
• TLD Operators (.ZA, .AFRICA, .DURBAN, .JOBURG, .CAPETOWN)coreTechnology or IntegrationRyCE operates these TLDs from its Vienna datacenter using EPP-based shared registry system, together managing over 2 million domains.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Coface: Coface is a global trade credit insurance and business information provider; its underwriting and risk information services overlap with Compass's finance, insurance and compliance customer segments, though it operates at much larger scale and scope.
• Bureau van Dijk (Moody's): Bureau van Dijk, now part of Moody's, is a broad global incumbent in private company information and KYC data, overlapping with Compass's compliance and business data offerings but at much larger scale.
• Identity Digital: Identity Digital (formerly Afilias) is one of the largest global TLD registry operators providing shared registry and DNS backend services—comparable to RyCE's EPP-based shared registry and TLD backend offering.

Direct peers

• Creditsafe: Creditsafe provides global business credit reports, compliance data and company monitoring across 200+ countries; closely overlaps with Wirtschafts-Compass on company data, monitoring, and risk/compliance use cases.
• Knipp: Knipp is a German/DACH data and registry services firm providing domain registry, financial-data and risk-information solutions, sharing Compass's mix of DACH business data plus TLD-related backend services (RyCE).
• Bisnode (Dun & Bradstreet): Bisnode was the leading Nordic and DACH business information provider before being acquired by Dun & Bradstreet; it offers company data, KYC/AML, credit reports and compliance screening—directly comparable to Wirtschafts-Compass, Compass-API and Compliance-Screening.
• CRIF: Italian-headquartered CRIF is one of Europe's largest business information, credit reporting and AML/KYC services groups with operations across multiple European markets, mirroring Compass's compliance screening, business data and registry-data products.

Regional players

• Graydon: Graydon provides business credit reports and company intelligence across the UK and Ireland; comparable in product to Wirtschafts-Compass but operating in a different European market, offering a useful international analog.
• DENIC: DENIC is the registry operator for Germany's .de top-level domain—comparable to Compass-RyCE's role operating .ZA, .AFRICA and city-TLDs from its own high-availability datacenter.
• ZADNA: ZADNA is the .ZA registry operator—currently a Compass-RyCE customer/tld operation partner—making it a directly comparable registry operator in Compass's TLD portfolio.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCQ4-KEVdo2XQNxIZRxifWGw
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/compass-gruppe

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments2 records

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

Frequently asked questions about Compass-Gruppe