What KI Group does

KI Group, legally Kunststoff Information GmbH, is a private German B2B information services company headquartered in Bad Homburg that has served the plastics industry since 1971, with its online operations dating to 1996. The company operates a multi-product information ecosystem anchored by the KunststoffWeb.de news portal and the KIWeb.de subscription platform, providing daily industry news, polymer price reporting across approximately 100 product types (KI Polymerpreise), market analyses and forecasts, insolvency and force majeure tracking, and a global polymer capacity database (Polyglobe) covering over 5,000 plants, 2,000 companies, and 1,000+ locations across nearly 80 countries. Supporting brands include K-PROFI (trade magazine and international editions), Plastics Information Europe (PIE), K-AKTUELL (daily trade fair newspaper), the Wer-Bietet-Was? directory of over 3,000 companies, the KunststoffWeb-Rohstoffbörse raw materials exchange, Knowledge & Training seminars, and the KIGo! mobile app launched in 2022.

The business model combines recurring subscription revenue (KIWeb.de, Polyglobe, K-PROFI), advertising and sponsorships (including exclusive German-language media partnership with Messe Düsseldorf for the K trade fair), professional services revenue from seminars, webinars, and KI Industry Talks, and print advertising/ circulation. Distribution is predominantly digital through web and mobile, supplemented by print trade publications and on-site presence at major European plastics trade fairs including K (Düsseldorf), Fakuma (Friedrichshafen), and PRSE (Amsterdam). Customers are professionals across the German and European plastics value chain — processors, producers, raw material suppliers, machine manufacturers, and service providers — with KI-Polymerpreise reported to be used as a benchmark in supply and purchase contracts, reinforcing the operational stickiness of the platform.

Operationally, KI Group runs as a focused small-team specialist (11-50 employees) led by Managing Director Ulrike Mau, with a recent generational leadership transition including Christian Preiser as Editor-in-Chief (since April 2021) and Martin Bäcker as Head of the Pricing Team (since December 2021), succeeding long-tenured predecessors. The company has no disclosed external funding, no acquisitions, and no public listing; it appears to be independently owned and has steadily extended its product surface over the past 15 years rather than pursuing inorganic growth, with the KIGo! mobile app (2022) and PRSE 2025 recycling-focused engagement representing the most recent expansion moves.

Name

KI Group

Legal name

Kunststoff Information GmbH

Website

https://kunststoffweb.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1971

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

KI Group (Kunststoff Information GmbH) is a German B2B information services company that provides daily plastics industry news, polymer price reporting, market intelligence, and a global polymer capacity database to processors, producers, and suppliers across Germany and Europe.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Bad Homburg

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. KI Kunststoff Information Subscription: Subscription-based access to daily news, polymer price reports, market analyses, and premium content on KIWeb.de. Includes around 100 price time series for polymer raw materials, charts, data tables, price indices, market reports, and market data.
2. Polyglobe Subscription: Subscription-based access to the Polyglobe online database containing worldwide polymer producers, plants, and capacities information.
3. K-PROFI Publications: Print and digital trade publications including K-PROFI, K-PROFI international, and K-PROFI täglich magazines.
4. Knowledge & Training: Seminars, webinars, and industry talks including KI Industry Talks and professional training programs.
5. Advertising and Sponsorships: Marketing services including newsletter advertising, media partnerships (e.g., official media partner for K trade fair), and branded content opportunities.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

KI Group is a B2B information services provider for the plastics industry, delivering daily industry news, polymer price reporting across approximately 100 product types, market analyses and forecasts, and global polymer capacity data through its online platforms (KunststoffWeb.de, KIWeb.de, Polyglobe.net) and print trade publications (K-PROFI). The company complements its editorial offerings with webinars (KI Industry Talks), professional training (Knowledge & Training), an industry directory (Wer-Bietet-Was?), and a free raw materials exchange (Rohstoffbörse), serving plastics processors, producers, raw material suppliers, and machine manufacturers in Germany and Europe.

Product overview

KI Group operates a multi-platform information ecosystem for the plastics industry. The core offering centers on KunststoffWeb, a professional information portal providing daily news coverage since 1996. Supporting products include KI Polymerpreise (price information for ~100 polymer types), Polyglobe (global capacity database), and KI Industry Talks (webinar series). The portfolio also includes K-AKTUELL (trade fair newspaper), K-PROFI (trade magazine), Plastics Information Europe (PIE), the Wer-Bietet-Was? directory (3,000+ companies), KunststoffWeb-Rohstoffbörse (raw materials exchange), and Knowledge & Training seminars. The products serve industry professionals with news, pricing data, market intelligence, and networking tools.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• KunststoffWeb (News Portal) Professional information portal for the plastics industry providing daily news, market information, polymer prices, company directories, and event listings. Serves plastics industry professionals (processors, producers, raw material suppliers, machine manufacturers, service providers) in Germany and Europe.
• KI Polymerpreise (Polymer Prices) Subscription-based polymer price reporting service covering approximately 100 time series for the polymer market, including charts, data tables, price indices (Plastixx), market reports and forecasts. Used as a pricing benchmark in supply and purchase contracts by plastics industry companies. Targets procurement, sales, and strategy teams at plastics processors, producers, and raw material suppliers.
• Polyglobe (Capacity Database) Subscription-based worldwide polymer producers, plants, and capacities database with over 5,000 plants, 2,000 companies at 1,000+ locations in nearly 80 countries. Serves plastics industry professionals needing global capacity intelligence.
• K-PROFI (Trade Magazine) Trade magazine delivering impulses for plastics processors, available in international edition and daily format (K-PROFI, K-PROFI international, K-PROFI täglich). Targets plastics processors and industry decision-makers as a print subscription product.
• Plastics Information Europe (PIE) European plastics information service covering markets, companies, materials, applications and packaging. Serves European plastics industry professionals with broader regional market intelligence.
• Wer-Bietet-Was? (Industry Directory) Comprehensive industry directory of the plastics industry with over 3,000 companies, product search functionality, free company listings, and trade name search. Serves buyers and sellers across the plastics value chain as a free service with optional premium placement.
• KunststoffWeb-Rohstoffbörse (Raw Materials Exchange) Free online platform for buying and selling plastics including virgin materials, recyclates, waste, special items and surplus quantities, with classification capabilities and efficient search functionality. Connects buyers and sellers across the plastics raw materials market.
• KI Group Knowledge & Training Training and seminar program for the plastics industry covering topics like additive manufacturing and polymerization technology. Delivered via seminars, webinars, and industry talks including KI Industry Talks. Targets plastics industry professionals seeking professional development.
• KI Industry Talks (Webinar Series) Online webinar and talk series featuring industry and market experts discussing current topics such as Force Majeure, market volatility, recycling challenges, and regulatory developments for the plastics industry. Serves plastics industry professionals as an engagement and thought-leadership platform.
• K-AKTUELL (Trade Fair Newspaper) Daily on-site trade fair newspaper for the K plastics trade fair in Düsseldorf, produced in 8 editions during the event by KI Group as official German-language exclusive media partner of Messe Düsseldorf. Serves attendees and exhibitors of the K trade fair.
• KIGo! (Mobile App) Bilingual mobile application providing KI Group content and a photo contest feature for the K 2022 trade fair. Serves plastics industry professionals accessing KI Group content on mobile devices.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 3,000 companies listed in the KunststoffWeb directory
• +1 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• PRSE (Plastics Recycling Show Europe)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 April 2025KI Group and the KI Preisteam participated at PRSE 2025 in Amsterdam (Hall 5, Stand L72) to engage with the European recycling industry and provide market intelligence coverage.
• GKV (Gesamtverband Kunststoffverarbeitende Industrie)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 March 2022KI Group and GKV jointly initiated the 'Kunststoff hilft' (Plastics Help) donation campaign for Ukraine following the Russian invasion. The initiative called on all companies in the German plastics industry to participate, aiming to raise a total of 1 million EUR through 'Aktion Deutschland Hilft'.
• Messe DüsseldorfcoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 12 October 2015KI Group became official media partner of Messe Düsseldorf for the K 2016 trade fair. As German-language exclusive partner, KI Group produced the daily trade fair newspaper 'K-AKTUELL' (8 issues) on-site and presented accompanying online content. The partnership was extended to K 2022 and K 2025 with Lunchtime Talks and Polymerpreis short presentations at the KI Group booth.
• Messe Friedrichshafen (Fakuma)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerKI Group maintains presence at the Fakuma trade fair in Friedrichshafen, offering coverage and engagement with industry professionals.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Direct peers

• Plastics News (Crain Communications): Plastics News is the leading English-language trade news publication for the global plastics processing industry, covering markets, materials, and pricing — directly comparable to KunststoffWeb's editorial and audience model.
• Polymerupdate: Polymerupdate provides daily polymer price assessments, news, and analysis for global commodity polymers — a focused pricing intelligence peer whose product overlaps with KI Polymerpreise.
• Plastics Today (Gardner Business Media): Plastics Today is a US-based digital media brand for plastics processors covering technology, markets, and materials — a direct editorial peer to KunststoffWeb for the plastics processing audience.
• EUWID (European Waste & Recycling Industry): EUWID is a privately-held German B2B information provider covering wood-based panels, paper, and recycling markets; closely comparable as a German niche-industry subscription information business with similar scale and operating model.
• Kunststoffe (Carl Hanser Verlag): Kunststoffe is the flagship German-language technical trade journal for plastics, published by Carl Hanser Verlag; it directly overlaps with K-PROFI and KI Kunststoff Information as German-language industry publications.

Broad incumbents

• ICIS (Independent Commodity Intelligence Services): ICIS is a global price reporting and market intelligence provider for petrochemicals and plastics; its polymer and feedstock pricing reports directly compete with KI Polymerpreise while also covering far wider commodity markets.
• Wood Mackenzie: Wood Mackenzie provides commercial intelligence and data across chemicals and polymers with deep plant-level capacity databases comparable to Polyglobe, alongside broader energy and materials coverage.
• Argus Media: Argus publishes price benchmarks and news across petrochemicals, plastics, and adjacent commodities; its subscription-driven methodology and benchmark-style indices parallel KI Polymerpreise and KI Kunststoff Information subscriptions.
• S&P Global Commodity Insights (formerly Platts): S&P Global Commodity Insights is a global commodity intelligence platform with extensive polymer and petrochemical price benchmarks and analytics; a much larger incumbent in the same price-reporting category as KI Polymerpreise.

Emerging players

• Fastmarkets (formerly Fastmarkets MB/AMM): Fastmarkets operates price reporting and market intelligence across multiple commodity markets including recycled plastics; an adjacent competitor whose emerging recycled-plastics coverage intersects KI Group's sustainability-focused content.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/KIGroup1971

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries1 record

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 KI Group