What Hike One does

Hike One BV is a Dutch digital product design agency founded in 2008 and headquartered at Koivistokade 70, Amsterdam. The firm helps organizations make complex, business-critical software understandable and usable, serving enterprise and government clients across banking (Rabobank, Volksbank), telecommunications and media (Liberty Global, Ster), energy (Hezelaer Energy, Fudura), construction (Dura Vermeer), mobility (ANWB, Schiphol), public sector (Gemeente Amsterdam, TU Delft), and consumer brands (Heineken, Rituals, Signify). With more than 60 design specialists, Hike One has held a Top 3 position in the EMERCE100 ranking for five consecutive years and is a member of Dutch Digital Agencies.

Hike One's offering is organized around three core services: Product Discovery (user research and opportunity identification), Product Realisation (design execution and embedded talent), and Product Coaching (continuous discovery habits, outcome-based management, UX maturity advancement). Specialized engagements include Design Sprint facilitation, Continuous Discovery Coaching, UX Maturity Review, Customer Journey Maturity Scan, and design system development. The firm has codified human-centered methodologies — including design system roadmaps (assessment, tokens, components, governance) and continuous discovery practices — and publishes a public UX Playbook plus whitepapers on design systems and UX repositories. Recent additions include AI-focused services: AI & Product Design, AI Design Sprint, and a 1-day AI Literacy Workshop, reflecting a human-centered approach to AI feature design in collaboration with data scientists and LLM modelers.

Revenue is generated through professional services engagements ranging from short workshops (1-day AI Literacy for 10–30 participants) to multi-year strategic partnerships (notably Marktplaats since 2013). Pricing is custom and quote-based; the firm discloses no publicly listed rates. Go-to-market is direct enterprise sales led by a Commercial Director and Business Developer, supported by content marketing (insights blog, whitepapers, UX Playbook), industry events (Beyond Design roundtables), and industry recognition (EMERCE100, DDA membership). Hike One is privately held with no disclosed external funding, indicating organic growth. Operations are primarily Netherlands-based, with selected international projects such as Liberty Global's Horizon GO app spanning 12 countries and 10+ million users.

Name

Hike One

Legal name

Hike One BV

Website

https://hike.one

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Hike One is a Dutch digital product design agency with 60+ specialists serving enterprises and governments across banking, telecom, energy, and public sectors. It delivers Product Discovery, Product Realisation, and Product Coaching services, increasingly including AI-focused design offerings.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Nieuw-amsterdam

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Professional Services - Project-Based Engagements: Digital product design services delivered through project engagements. Services include product discovery, product realisation, and product coaching. Engagements range from short workshops (e.g., AI literacy workshop, Design Sprints) to longer-term strategic partnerships and embedded team arrangements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Hike One is a Netherlands-based digital product design agency that helps organizations make complex, business-critical software understandable and usable. Its core offerings span three service pillars: Product Discovery (identifying and prioritizing product opportunities through user research), Product Realisation (delivering embedded user research and product design talent to execute digital products), and Product Coaching (training product teams in continuous discovery, design mindset, and UX maturity). Specialized workshops and sprints (Design Sprint, AI Design Sprint, AI Literacy Workshop, Customer Journey Maturity Scan, Continuous Discovery Coaching, UX Maturity Review, AI & Product Design advisory) supplement the core pillars.

Product overview

Hike One is a digital product design agency offering a portfolio of consulting and service offerings organized around three core services: Product Discovery (opportunity identification and user research), Product Realisation (design execution and talent delivery), and Product Coaching (process optimization and team capability building). The portfolio includes specialized AI-focused offerings such as AI Design Sprint, AI Literacy Workshop, and AI & Product Design, which apply UX principles to AI feature development. Additional offerings include Design Sprint facilitation, Customer Journey Maturity Scan, Continuous Discovery Coaching, and UX Maturity Review. All offerings are delivered as consultancy services rather than standalone software products. Case work spans major Dutch and international clients including Marktplaats, Signify, Heineken, Liberty Global, Yuki, Dura Vermeer, Flow, and Hezelaer Energy, covering digital platforms, multi-branded design systems, career tools, and mobile applications. The company also publishes content resources including whitepapers on design systems and UX repositories, guides on design system roadmaps, and articles on product-business alignment, alongside a publicly accessible UX Playbook.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Product Discovery A service that identifies and prioritizes product opportunities by aligning customer needs with business goals through user research, insight synthesis, and strategic framing. Targeted at enterprise teams seeking validated product direction before committing to build.
• Product Realisation A service that delivers embedded user research and product design talent to organizations to execute on their digital product vision, producing tangible design artifacts and validated prototypes. Targeted at enterprises that need to scale product design capacity.
• Product Coaching A coaching service that optimizes the process of bringing products to market by helping teams adopt a product mindset, continuous discovery habits, and outcome-based working. Targeted at internal product teams and their leaders.
• AI & Product Design An advisory and execution service that helps organizations design AI features people understand and trust, covering product discovery, design & delivery, product coaching, and AI training for teams, with emphasis on transparency and user control.
• AI Design Sprint A short-format sprint that translates vague AI plans into a concrete and feasible action plan, connecting management's strategic vision with practical workplace knowledge by replacing assumptions with rapid validation.
• AI Literacy Workshop A 1-day hands-on workshop for digital designers on practically applying AI technology in day-to-day work, resulting in actionable tools to immediately optimize workflows. Group size 10–30 persons; pricing on request.
• Design Sprint A four-day, validated methodology for rapidly prototyping and testing ideas with real users, enabling cross-functional collaboration and user-centered innovation to answer critical business questions.
• Customer Journey Maturity Scan An assessment service that embeds a continuous, holistic, and user-centered approach to mapping customer experiences across an organization's products, services, and processes, identifying bottlenecks and opportunities.
• Continuous Discovery Coaching A coaching service that teaches teams to apply continuous product discovery habits and make better product decisions aligned with business goals and real user needs.
• UX Maturity Review An assessment-driven service that produces an actionable plan for leveling up a team's UX maturity across process, research, tools, capabilities, culture, workflows, and operations.

Quantifiable outcome

• 30% year-on-year growth achieved by Yuki through continuous discovery coaching
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers23 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• UtiluscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with Utilus on Dura Vermeer's Project Master platform redesign. Utilus provided domain expertise and strategic guidance alongside Hike One's design services.
• De VoorhoedesupportingImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerFront-end development partner collaborating with Hike One on Heineken's The Map career tool. De Voorhoede provided front-end expertise to complement Hike One's design work.
• Jan-Willem TulpsupportingTechnology or IntegrationData visualization specialist contributing to Heineken's The Map project. Provided expertise in presenting complex career path data through effective visualizations.
• AdyensupportingTechnology or IntegrationPartner bank referenced in Flow's fintech platform development. Flow builds embedded financial products with partner banks like Adyen for white-label banking solutions.
• SnelStartsupportingTechnology or IntegrationAccounting software company partnered with Flow to offer white-label banking solutions. Hike One helped design Flow's B2B proposition targeting small businesses and solopreneurs.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• IDEO: IDEO is a pioneering design consultancy delivering discovery, design, and innovation coaching for large enterprises. Its human-centered approach and method-led engagement model map closely to Hike One's three-pillar service structure.
• Ustwo: Ustwo is a digital product studio running end-to-end discovery, design, and engineering for enterprise and consumer apps, often producing work of the same complexity and scale as Hike One's Signify, Heineken, and Liberty Global cases.
• Thoughtworks: Thoughtworks is a global technology consultancy emphasizing design-led engineering and continuous discovery for enterprise software products. Its product mindset, design system, and platform offerings parallel Hike One's coaching and realization services.
• Work & Co: Work & Co is a digital product consultancy known for designing and shipping flagship enterprise experiences at the scale of Heineken and Liberty Global. Its product-design-led model and selective client roster make it a direct analogue to Hike One's enterprise work.
• Netlight: Netlight is a Nordic-European digital consultancy combining strategy, design, and technology for enterprise clients. Its regional focus on industrial and complex-software engagements overlaps with Hike One's Dutch enterprise positioning.
• Frog Design: Frog is a global human-centered design firm delivering research, design strategy, and product realization for complex enterprise digital products. Its offering spans the same Product Discovery/Realisation/Coaching lifecycle that anchors Hike One's portfolio.

Broad incumbents

• AKQA: AKQA is a global digital agency offering design and product engineering as part of a much wider marketing and communications portfolio, often bidding for the same enterprise digital transformation work as Hike One.
• Publicis Sapient: Publicis Sapient is a global digital transformation business combining consulting, design, and engineering for large enterprises. It competes with Hike One on the same design-led digital product programs for complex Dutch and European clients.
• Deloitte Digital: Deloitte Digital embeds large design and product teams within one of the world's largest consultancies, competing for the same complex software modernization and AI-product mandates from banks, insurers, and public-sector clients that Hike One serves.
• R/GA: R/GA is a global digital agency with deep enterprise product, brand, and experience design capabilities. Its digital product work overlaps Hike One's offering, even though it operates at substantially greater scale and breadth.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/realhikeone

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 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 Hike One