Aptivate
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2003
- HeadquartersCambridge, United Kingdom
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
Aptivate firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Aptivate
- Legal name
- Aptivate
- Website
- https://aptivate.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2003
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Aptivate industry classification
Industry- Product category
- International Development Digital Services
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming Services (7371), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Developer Experience (DevEx) Tooling & Productivity Engineering (BPAEAKAM)
Keywords
Where Aptivate is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Cambridge
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Aptivate business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Digital agency services: Aptivate designs, builds, and supports websites and information systems for international development organizations, NGOs, and development agencies. Revenue is generated through professional services engagements including discovery workshops, UX research, software development, and ongoing support.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels7 records
Aptivate product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Aptivate is an ethical, non-profit digital agency that designs, builds, and supports websites and information systems for international development organizations, NGOs, UN agencies, and development agencies. The agency specializes in low-bandwidth optimized, multilingual web solutions, participatory user experience workshops, mobile data collection using Open Data Kit, interactive data visualization, and open source tool development for clients across the global development sector.
Product overview
Aptivate is a digital agency specializing in international development, offering website design, development, and support services with specialization in low-bandwidth solutions, multilingual platforms, and participatory user experience methodologies. Their portfolio includes custom web applications built primarily in Django and WordPress, open source tools such as EvalC3 (evaluation analysis), e-immigrate (event registration), TradeMapper (data visualization), and the multilingual-polylang WordPress plugin. They have developed CKAN extensions and humanitarian information dashboards for sector partners. Their project work spans monitoring and evaluation systems, mobile data collection platforms, interactive mapping tools, and digital citizen engagement frameworks for clients including World Bank, UN agencies, WaterAid, and various NGOs.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Quantifiable outcome
- Research4Life serves 6000+ institutions in 100+ developing countries
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Aptivate
Customer profileNamed customers14 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Aptivate technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
Aptivate partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
18 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Institute for Development Studies (IDS)coreAptivate led a consortium including IDS to explore technology in citizen-engagement and participation, and how to evaluate such activities. IDS provided academic and scientific skills for survey design and data analysis.
- Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA:UK)corePart of the consortium developing the World Bank Digital Engagement Evaluation Framework. ICA brought participation and development expertise.
- Institute for Development Studies (IDS) at University of SussexcoreProvided academic and scientific skills to design survey instruments and understand data collected during UNICEF Zambia mobile data collection project.
- Ruralnet Associates Limited (Zambia)coreLocal Zambian organization providing enumerators, transport, and logistics for the mobile data collection project in Mufulira.
- World Health Organization (WHO)coreCoordinated the Hinari Programme for developing countries' access to health research content. Aptivate developed and maintained Hinari and its management tools since 2006.
- Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)coreAptivate worked with FAO to build the AGORA portal and data management web application for Research4Life.
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)coreAcademic partner running randomized control trials for IPPF's mHealth innovation projects in Tajikistan, Bolivia, and Palestine.
- London School of Economics (LSE)corePart of the consortium developing the World Bank Digital Engagement Evaluation Framework.
- University of CambridgecorePart of the consortium developing the World Bank Digital Engagement Evaluation Framework.
- MozillaminorProvided venue for Aptivate's Evaluating Digital Citizen Engagement workshop in London (Mozilla London office).
- UN Environment Programme (UNEP)coreLed the Online Access to Research in the Environment (OARE) programme, part of Research4Life.
- World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)coreCoordinated ARDI (Access to Research for Development and Innovation) programme, part of Research4Life.
- Zambian Ministry of Finance and National PlanningcoreJoint effort with UNICEF to understand effects of global economic crisis on vulnerable households in Zambia.
- CoTech (Cooperative of Tech Companies)minorAptivate is listed as a CoTech member, a cooperative of tech worker-owned companies in the UK.
- PulacoreBuilt technical system supporting Pula's work with farmers in Malawi and Zambia, including Germination Insurance registration via mobile phones.
- University of QueenslandcoreLed development of Coral Reef Rescue Knowledge Hub, specializing in coral reef research and working with CRRI Chief Scientist Ove Hoegh-Guldberg.
- International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF)coreThree-year innovation project exploring mHealth as platform for contraception awareness, with member associations in Tajikistan, Bolivia, and Palestine.
- InternewscoreDeveloped Humanitarian Information Dashboard aggregating community feedback for humanitarian responders. Code available open source on GitHub.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Aptivate competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- IDEO.org: Nonprofit design and innovation firm applying human-centered design to poverty, health, and financial inclusion challenges with NGOs and funders. Comparable to Aptivate's participatory UX workshop practice but at much larger scale and design-led rather than engineering-led.
- Ushahidi: Ushahidi builds open source crisis mapping and citizen engagement software used by humanitarian and human rights organizations. Comparable in open source ethos and humanitarian focus, but more platform-oriented than agency-based delivery.
Others
- NetHope: Consortium of ~60 leading international NGOs collaborating on shared technology, data, and connectivity initiatives for field operations. Not a direct competitor, but a key ecosystem body that shapes digital procurement for many of Aptivate's target clients.
- DataKind: Nonprofit that pairs data scientists with humanitarian and development organizations to apply data science and machine learning to social impact challenges. Adjacent rather than direct, but competes for the same donor-funded analytical capacity work.
Direct peers
- Medic (formerly Medic Mobile): Medic builds the Community Health Toolkit, an open source digital health platform used by community health workers in low-resource settings globally. Closely mirrors Aptivate's open source ethos, mHealth focus, and work with health-oriented INGOs and UN partners.
- Dimagi: Dimagi builds CommCare, a mobile data collection and service-delivery platform widely used by NGOs, ministries of health, and UN agencies in developing countries. Direct overlap with Aptivate on ODK-based mobile data collection work for UNICEF Zambia and field deployments across Africa and South Asia.
- InSTEDD (Innovative Support to Emergencies, Diseases and Disasters): InSTEDD designs open source technology for humanitarian response, early warning, and public health, working with UN agencies, Red Cross, and INGOs. Closely aligned with Aptivate's humanitarian information dashboard and participatory design work for humanitarian clients.
- Akvo: Akvo provides open source data collection, visualization, and monitoring tools used by development programs and partnerships across water, sanitation, agriculture, and climate. Direct comparison point for Aptivate's WASHwatch, TradeMapper, and M&E work with NGOs and multilaterals.
- Praekelt Foundation: Praekelt builds mobile-first digital health and social impact products for users in low-bandwidth African contexts, including maternal health, HIV, and nutrition messaging at national scale. Highly comparable to Aptivate's participatory, low-bandwidth, multilingual work for IPPF and other health-focused development clients.
Broad incumbents
- ThoughtWorks: Global technology consultancy with a longstanding social impact practice serving NGOs, multilaterals, and foundations on digital transformation and M&E platforms. A much larger incumbent that increasingly competes for the same ICT4D RFPs Aptivate targets.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Aptivate social profiles
Digital presenceAptivate financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Aptivate leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Aptivate funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Aptivate M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Aptivate
What does Aptivate do?
Aptivate is an ethical, non-profit digital agency that designs, builds, and supports websites and information systems for international development organizations, NGOs, UN agencies, and development agencies. The agency specializes in low-bandwidth optimized, multilingual web solutions, participatory user experience workshops, mobile data collection using Open Data Kit, interactive data visualization, and open source tool development for clients across the global development sector.
Is Aptivate a public or private company?
Aptivate is a private company. It is classified as management employee owned and is currently operating.
When was Aptivate founded?
Aptivate was founded in 2003. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Aptivate based?
Aptivate is headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Aptivate make money?
One revenue line is on record: digital agency services.
Who are Aptivate's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are IDEO.org and Ushahidi. Others are NetHope and DataKind. Direct peers are Medic (formerly Medic Mobile), Dimagi, InSTEDD (Innovative Support to Emergencies, Diseases and Disasters), Akvo and Praekelt Foundation. ThoughtWorks is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Aptivate have an API?
No public API is recorded for Aptivate.
What industry is Aptivate in?
Aptivate's product category is International Development Digital Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAEAKAM, Developer Experience (DevEx) Tooling & Productivity Engineering. Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7371.