Kernwert

What Kernwert does

Kernwert GmbH is a Berlin-based software company founded in 2005 that develops and operates KERNWERT Studio, an all-in-one digital qualitative research platform. The platform supports Research Communities, Digital Diaries, Mobile Ethnography, Online Focus Groups, Qualitative Studies, Pre-tasks/Homework, and Webcam Meetings through a responsive web interface accessible on smartphone, tablet, and desktop, and integrates AI features spanning text summarization, topic extraction, transcription in 120 languages, real-time translation, sentiment analysis, and the KERNWERT Quality Score launched in September 2025 as a first-mover AI quality check for qualitative research. The platform is GDPR-compliant, hosted on an ISO 27001-certified German data center, and certified to VdS 10000 information security standards, with AI processing performed exclusively within the EU and without use of customer data for model training.

The company serves three primary B2B segments: market research institutes and UX research firms (e.g., Point Blank, Avenir Focus), enterprise companies conducting market research and product development (e.g., Deutsche Kreditbank, Swisscom, MetaDesign, air up, dm-drogerie markt), and government and public institutions (e.g., BARMER, RMV). Customers operate across DACH and internationally, with documented project delivery in France, the USA, China, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Japan, and Switzerland. Go-to-market is sales-led with direct outreach, demo requests, quote-based pricing, and three engagement tiers ranging from Do-It-Yourself to Full-Service consulting.

Kernwert monetizes through project-based software rental with hosting and technical support, premium professional services covering project setup, moderation, analysis support, and participant recruitment coordination, and tailored training and workshop sessions. Pricing is quote-based with multi-year contracts and no publicly disclosed list pricing. The company is privately held by founder Dirk Wieseke and managing director Christoph Gehricke, has 11-50 employees, has not raised external funding, and has no parent company or institutional shareholders disclosed.

Name

Kernwert

Legal name

Kernwert GmbH

Website

https://kernwert.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Kernwert GmbH is a Berlin-based software company founded in 2005 that provides KERNWERT Studio, an AI-powered digital qualitative research platform serving market research institutes, enterprises, and public institutions across multiple countries on a B2B SaaS-plus-services basis.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Qualitative Research Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

AI/ML Solution Integration & MLOps Enablement (BPAEAAAJ)

Keywords

• Qualitative research software
• Digital market research
• Online focus groups
• Research communities platform
• Mobile ethnography tools

Headquarters

HQ city

Berlin

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Software Rental (Project-Based): Software rental on a project basis including hosting and technical support. Customers rent the Kernwert Studio platform for their research projects with all-inclusive hosting and support.
2. Professional Services: Consulting, project setup, moderation, data export, analysis support, participant recruitment coordination, and custom design services. Full-service engagement options available.
3. Training and Workshops: Individual webinars, workshops, and training sessions tailored to specific user needs and industry focuses.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Kernwert offers KERNWERT Studio, an all-in-one digital qualitative research platform with integrated AI that supports research communities, digital diaries, mobile ethnography, online focus groups, qualitative studies, pre-tasks, and webcam meetings for B2B market research buyers. The platform combines multi-method research tooling with AI-powered summarization, transcription, translation, sentiment analysis, and quality scoring. Kernwert complements the software with consulting, moderation, project setup, participant recruitment coordination, training, and full-service research support under DIY, Do-It-Together, and Full-Service engagement models.

Product overview

Kernwert is a digital qualitative research software and services company offering KERNWERT Studio as its core all-in-one platform. The platform integrates multiple research methodologies including Research Communities, Digital Diaries, Mobile Ethnography, Online Focus Groups, Qualitative Interviews, Pre-tasks/Homework, and Webcam Meetings. AI-powered features are built directly into the platform for text summarization, transcription, translation, sentiment analysis, and quality scoring. The company also provides consulting and service offerings ranging from Do-It-Yourself to Full-Service support.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• KERNWERT Studio: All-in-one platform with AI support for research communities, digital diaries, mobile ethnography, qualitative studies, and online focus groups.
• KERNWERT Quality Score

Products and services

• KERNWERT Studio All-in-one digital qualitative research platform with integrated AI support across setup, data collection, communication, quality checks, moderation, and analysis. Supports responsive multi-screen use across smartphone, tablet and desktop for B2B market and UX research buyers.
• Research Communities Digital community offering on KERNWERT Studio for ongoing, asynchronous dialogue with target audiences, with versatile task types, media integration and AI-powered analysis with integrated Insight Chat. Used by market researchers and enterprise CX/insights teams.
• Digital Diaries Mobile diary studies on KERNWERT Studio providing real-time insights into customers' everyday lives, habits and usage patterns with video, audio, photo tasks and closed questions. Used by market researchers and enterprise consumer insights teams.
• Mobile Ethnography Immersive research method on KERNWERT Studio capturing participants' daily lives through video, audio, photos and collages, with integrated journey mapping and AI-powered text and image analysis.
• Online Focus Groups Real-time text-based focus group discussions on KERNWERT Studio with built-in tools for participant invitations, observer chat, guide integration, polls, creative tasks and AI-driven analysis. Accessible on any device with no installation.
• Multimedia Qualitative Studies Flexible asynchronous qualitative interviews on KERNWERT Studio with multimedia response options, providing rich insights with reduced moderation effort and scalable sample sizes.
• Consulting and Service Premium research support from Kernwert's interdisciplinary team covering project setup, moderation, data export, analysis support, participant recruitment coordination and custom study design, available in Do-It-Yourself, Do-It-Together and Full-Service engagement models for B2B research buyers.
• Training and Workshops Individual webinars, workshops and training sessions tailored to user needs and industry focuses, helping B2B customers adopt digital qualitative research methods and Kernwert's platform capabilities.
• Automatic Transcription Feature Automated real-time transcription of video and audio files directly on the KERNWERT Studio project platform, with export capabilities and support for 120 languages and language variants, enabling international research teams to process multimedia data.
• QDC Studio Version 12 Major platform release of the predecessor to KERNWERT Studio, introducing new tools, simpler project setup, and automatic evaluation of closed question types to streamline structured quantitative questions within qualitative research projects.
• KERNWERT AI Generation Integration Major AI capability release integrating new-generation AI models into KERNWERT Studio with improved natural language understanding, including automatic summarization of participant contributions, topic extraction, and moderation support, all processed in the EU for GDPR compliance.
• Multimodal AI Analysis AI-powered multimodal analysis capability on KERNWERT Studio that combines text, image, video and audio analysis for richer qualitative insights, enabling researchers to process photos, videos, and voice notes submitted by participants in communities, diaries and ethnography studies.
• KERNWERT Quality Score First-of-its-kind AI-powered quality check for qualitative research on KERNWERT Studio, making data quality measurable and transparent to ensure valid results and reliable qualitative research for B2B market research buyers.

Quantifiable outcome

• Top-3 ranking in all 7 categories of marktforschung.de Image Study
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

AI capability11 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• BonsaicoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2026Joint study collaboration on AI in qualitative research. Surveyed market researchers across DACH region to understand shifting expectations, emerging challenges, and evolving workflows related to AI adoption.
• oculidminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2022Joint study testing the use of eye tracking in combination with qualitative digital methods in the context of research communities. Explored how combining the two approaches can lead to deeper research understanding.
• VERBI Software GmbHcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 October 2016Integration partnership creating an interface between Kernwert Studio and MAXQDA, one of the world's leading software programs for qualitative data analysis. Enables seamless data transfer for clients who use or wish to use QDA software.
• mpex GmbHcoreOthersPrimary data center provider certified according to ISO/IEC 27001 and 'Trust in Cloud Infrastruktur'. Servers located exclusively in Germany.
• QualityHosting AGcoreOthersEmail servers for receiving and sending emails, hosted exclusively in Germany in ISO 27001 certified data center.
• minuskel screen partner GmbHminorOthersWeb conferencing systems for webinars and webmeetings, hosted exclusively in Germany.
• CleverReach GmbH & Co. KGminorOthersNewsletter distribution service provider for email marketing operations.
• Zoom Video Communications Inc.minorOthersAlternative web conferencing platform used as backup for webmeetings. EU-US Data Privacy Framework compliant with standard contractual clauses.
• Recruitment Partners NetworkcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorStrong network of national and international recruitment partners for participant recruitment across research studies.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Discuss.io: Enterprise-grade online qualitative research platform for live focus groups, asynchronous studies and video insights, with participant recruitment and AI-assisted analysis. Targets the same market research and enterprise insights buyers as Kernwert.
• Indeemo: Mobile-first qualitative research platform for video diaries, ethnography and asynchronous tasks with AI-enabled analysis. Closely aligned with Kernwert's mobile ethnography and diary product modules.
• Dscout: Diary study and in-the-moment research platform used for mobile ethnography, video diaries and longitudinal qualitative research. Directly comparable to Kernwert's Digital Diaries and Mobile Ethnography offerings.
• Recollective: Online research community platform supporting asynchronous qualitative studies, diaries, ideation and multi-media activities for market researchers and CX teams. Overlaps tightly with Kernwert's Research Communities and Digital Diaries modules.
• Forsta: Market research technology platform formed from the merger of Confirmit and FocusVision, offering qualitative solutions (online focus groups, IDIs, video insights) alongside broader VoC and employee experience products. Closest direct competitor to Kernwert Studio's qualitative focus group and video research capabilities.

Broad incumbents

• UserTesting: Human insight platform combining video-based user research, surveys and diary studies for UX and CX teams. Overlaps with Kernwert's mobile ethnography and UX research use cases but serves a much broader portfolio.
• Qualtrics: Experience management platform owned by SAP that offers survey, CX, and qualitative research capabilities including online focus groups and video feedback. Directly competes with Kernwert's enterprise customers but operates at vastly greater scale and breadth.

Emerging players

• Suzy: Consumer insights platform combining quantitative surveys with live qualitative conversations and AI-powered analysis. Competes with Kernwert for enterprise market research budgets, particularly among consumer brands.
• Toloka: Data and research platform offering participant recruitment plus qualitative and quantitative research tooling. Comparable to Kernwert on the recruitment-network and qualitative workflow dimensions.
• Remesh: AI-powered qualitative research platform enabling live group conversations at scale with automated theme and sentiment analysis. Competes with Kernwert's online focus group and AI summarization capabilities.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/kernwert-digital-qualitative-research

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 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 Kernwert