What Liquid Democracy does

Liquid Democracy e.V. is a Berlin-based German non-profit association founded in 2009 that develops and operates open-source digital tools for democratic participation. Its core product is adhocracy+, an open-source participation platform built on Django (Python) that supports moderated discussion, idea collection, polls, and project management for participatory processes. The organization has developed specialized deployments including meinBerlin, a city-wide citizen participation platform serving all Berlin districts for urban planning and local decision-making, with features such as Kiezradar for neighborhood-level engagement and the ARPAS AR-visualization pilot in Potsdam-Schlaatz. Beyond municipal deployments, Liquid Democracy maintains the meinBerlin platform for Land Berlin, partnerships with political parties and institutions including the German Bundestag's Enquete-Kommission KI, and collaborations with civil society organizations.

The organization's secondary product layer is a portfolio of AI capabilities integrated into adhocracy.plus, including the KOSMO AI moderation assistant (NLP-based classification of constructive, factual, and uncivil comments, co-developed with Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf), the DeFaktS disinformation-detection algorithm with Explainable AI components (with FZI and Philipps-Universität Marburg), and the KI-MoDi concept for detecting discrimination in AI language models. These capabilities are co-developed with named academic partners and BMBF funding rather than relying on third-party foundation models.

Liquid Democracy operates under a non-profit revenue model with no commercial SaaS pricing. The core software (adhocracy+) is freely downloadable and self-hostable on GitHub. Funding derives primarily from German federal project grants (BMBF, BMAS, 'Demokratie leben!'), supplemented by member dues, donations via betterplace.org, and bespoke service engagements with municipalities. The organization is governed by a board of four and led by two managing directors (Geschäftsführer), with approximately 19 full-time employees as of January 2023 plus volunteers. Its 2025 'Zukunft D' initiative extends its role into coalition leadership alongside AlgorithmWatch, aula, Schwarzkopf-Stiftung Junges Europa, and Wikimedia Deutschland.

Name

Liquid Democracy

Legal name

Liquid Democracy e.V.

Website

https://liqd.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Liquid Democracy e.V. is a Berlin-based German non-profit that develops the open-source adhocracy+ digital participation platform and the meinBerlin citizen-engagement platform, serving German municipalities, political institutions, and civil-society organizations with AI-assisted moderation tools.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Civic Engagement Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132), Public Administration (92), Administration of Urban Planning and Community and Rural Development (92512)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Public Communications, Transparency & Open Government (BPAIAAAH)

Keywords

• Digital participation platforms
• Civic engagement software
• Open-source democracy tools
• E-participation solutions
• Citizen participation software

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, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Public Project Funding (BMBF, BMAS, Federal Programs): Liquid Democracy's primary revenue source is government project funding — primarily grants from the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) and Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales (BMAS), as well as the federal program 'Demokratie leben!'. Projects include KOSMO, DeFaktS, KI-MoDi, and Zukunft D. This constitutes third-party project funding rather than direct revenue from product sales.
2. Donations: The organization accepts charitable donations from individuals and organizations to support its non-profit mission. Donations are facilitated through the betterplace.org platform and direct bank transfers. Tax-deductible donation receipts are issued.
3. Membership Dues: The association generates revenue through annual, quarterly, or monthly membership fees from ordinary members, founding members, and supporting members. Members include natural and legal persons.
4. Service and Consulting (implied): Liquid Democracy works with municipalities, city administrations, and political institutions to implement custom participation solutions. Revenue is implied to come partially from service engagements, though specific commercial terms are not publicly disclosed.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Liquid Democracy e.V. develops and freely distributes adhocracy+, an open-source digital participation platform built on Django (Python), and delivers customized participation deployments for municipalities, government institutions, and civil society organizations. The platform supports moderated discussions, idea collection, polls, and project management for participatory processes, and is augmented by AI-powered moderation (KOSMO), disinformation detection (DeFaktS), and bias detection (KI-MoDi) capabilities developed with university research partners.

Product overview

Liquid Democracy e.V. operates a suite of digital democracy and participation tools centered around its open-source platform ecosystem. The primary offering is adhocracy+, an accessible digital participation platform for online citizen engagement, with specialized deployments including meinBerlin for Berlin's municipal participation needs. The organization develops AI-powered enhancements—KOSMO (AI moderation assistant), DeFaktS (disinformation detection), and KI-MoDi (bias detection in AI)—integrated into the participation platform. These products are supplemented by educational resources through Liquid Academy and operate under the initiative Zukunft D for broader digital democracy advocacy.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• adhocracy+ (Adhocracy Plus): Open-source digital participation platform developed by Liquid Democracy for citizen engagement and democratic participation processes.
• Liquid Academy
• KOSMO
• DeFaktS
• meinBerlin
• Zukunft D

Products and services

• adhocracy+
• meinBerlin

Quantifiable outcome

• meinBerlin serves all Berlin residents across multiple districts for urban planning and local decision-making participation.
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability6 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• AlgorithmWatchcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025AlgorithmWatch is a core consortium partner in the 'Zukunft D' initiative (supported by the federal program 'Demokratie leben!'), working with Liquid Democracy and other organizations to build competencies and knowledge exchange around digital democracy across Germany.
• aulacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025aula is a partner in the 'Zukunft D' coalition, working alongside Liquid Democracy on strengthening democracy in a digitized, networked society. aula contributes to building digital participation infrastructure.
• Schwarzkopf-Stiftung Junges EuropacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025The Schwarzkopf Foundation Young Europe is a partner in the 'Zukunft D' initiative, contributing to youth-focused digital democracy activities, nationwide networking, and skills-building programs.
• Wikimedia DeutschlandcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Wikimedia Deutschland is a partner in the 'Zukunft D' coalition, contributing expertise in open knowledge, transparent information access, and open data as part of the initiative for more participation and open decision-making.
• Beyond AI Collective e.V.minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2023Beyond AI Collective e.V. collaborates with Liquid Democracy on the KI-MoDi project (June – December 2023), which aims to create a concept for detecting and correcting discrimination in AI language models. TU Ilmenau is also a project partner.
• TU IlmenauminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2023TU Ilmenau is a technical partner in the KI-MoDi project, contributing to the development of processes for identifying and correcting discrimination in AI language models alongside Liquid Democracy and Beyond AI Collective.
• FZI Forschungszentrum InformatikcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022FZI leads the DeFaktS consortium. Liquid Democracy integrates an AI disinformation detection algorithm into its adhocracy.plus platform as part of this BMBF-funded project (January 2022 – December 2024). FZI provides the technical AI research and Explainable AI (XAI) components.
• Murmuras GmbHcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Murmuras GmbH (also listed as Murmuras UG) is a project partner in the DeFaktS consortium, contributing to the development of tools for detecting disinformation campaigns in online discussions.
• Philipps-Universität MarburgcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022The university contributes academic research expertise to the DeFaktS project, helping to analyze the effects of AI-powered disinformation detection on online discussion quality.
• Heinrich-Heine-Universität DüsseldorfcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2020The university developed the KOSMO language model used in Liquid Democracy's AI moderation assistant. The project ran April 2020 – March 2023, funded by BMBF's 'KMU-innovativ' program. The university also partners on the KI-MoDi follow-up project.
• Institut für Partizipatives GestaltencoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2020The Institute for Participatory Design is a consortium partner in the KOSMO project, contributing expertise in participatory design methodology to the development of AI-supported moderation for online discussions.
• Nexus Institut für PartizipationminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2020Liquid Democracy partnered with the Nexus Institut für Partizipation to support the German Bundestag's Enquete-Kommission Künstliche Intelligenz online dialogue. Nexus co-managed the public participation process alongside Liquid Democracy's software.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Market position

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks1 record

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/liqd
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC-7o4K_T06a5ojciU_zPinA/featured
• Facebookfacebook.com/LIQDeV
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/liquid-democracy
• Instagraminstagram.com/liquiddemocracy
• Xx.com/liqd_de

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 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 Liquid Democracy