Avant

What Avant does

Avant Webdiensten is a Dutch internet services agency headquartered in Alblasserdam, Netherlands, founded in 1998 by Hans Huisman (originally as Bezichtig.nu, rebranded to Avant following a 2015 acquisition). The company serves small and medium-sized businesses plus local non-profit organizations across the Drechtsteden region — Dordrecht, Papendrecht, Zwijndrecht, Alblasserdam, Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, and Sliedrecht — offering web design and development, custom webshops, web hosting, SEO, and social media marketing. Its core technical asset is a proprietary in-house Content Management System (the Avant CMS) that has been developed and refined over 25+ years, supporting modular website features including news publishing, agenda/event management, image banks, product catalogs, booking systems, reviews, newsletters, and member directories. The Avant CMS underpins all client websites and supports responsive mobile design and multilingual builds.

The business operates on a hybrid revenue model combining one-time project fees for website and webshop builds with recurring annual hosting subscriptions priced from €75 (MailOnly) to €569 (Extra Large) per year. Distribution is concentrated in a single regional sales motion leveraging six proprietary "digital city" portals — Dordrecht.net, Papendrecht.net, Zwijndrecht.net, Sliedrecht.net, Alblasserdam.net, and Ambacht.net — that publish local news, activities, photos, and business listings, functioning as both community content platforms and organic customer acquisition channels. Avant holds an SBB Erkend Leerbedrijf (Recognized Training Company) credential and maintains minor partnerships with Stichting ANDERS, Tekstatelier, and Traffictoday.nl to extend delivery capacity beyond its approximately 8-person team. The company has no external investment, no parent organization, and is wholly owned by Hans Huisman following the July 2022 departure of co-advisor Xandra Hovius.

Name

Avant

Legal name

Avant Webdiensten

Website

https://avant.nl

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Avant Webdiensten is a Dutch SMB-focused web design, hosting, SEO, and digital marketing agency founded in 1998, serving businesses and non-profits in the Drechtsteden region of the Netherlands via its proprietary Avant CMS and six local digital city portals.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Web Design and Digital Marketing Services

NAICS

Software Publishers (513210), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821), Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services (51929)

SIC

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

akta.pro primary industry

Blogging & CMS Content Platforms (BPAMAJAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

White-Label/Hosted Publishing Platforms (MPACAIAJ), Digital Publishing Platforms (News/Magazines) (BPAMAJAE)

Keywords

• Web design services
• Web hosting services
• Search engine optimization
• Social media marketing
• Custom website development

Headquarters

HQ city

Alblasserdam

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Web Design and Development: Custom website design and development services, including web shops and mobile sites
2. Web Hosting Services: Reliable and secure web hosting with various packages including email, storage, and data transfer allowances
3. SEO and Online Marketing: Search engine optimization and digital marketing services including social media marketing

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Avant Webdiensten is a regional Dutch internet agency that designs, builds, hosts, and markets websites for SMB businesses and local organizations in the Drechtsteden region. The core offering combines custom web design and development, web hosting, search engine optimization (SEO), and social media marketing services, all delivered through a proprietary in-house Content Management System (CMS) called the Avant CMS.

Product overview

Avant Webdiensten operates as a web design and digital marketing agency serving SMB clients in the Drechtsteden region (Dordrecht, Papendrecht, Zwijndrecht, Alblasserdam, Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, and Sliedrecht). The core offering is built around their proprietary Avant Content Management System (CMS), which serves as the foundation for all client websites. The product portfolio includes custom website design and development, professional webshops, mobile-responsive website versions, reliable web hosting packages (MailOnly through Extra Large tiers), and digital marketing services covering social media marketing and SEO. Additional functionality is delivered through extensible CMS modules for news, events, project portfolios, product catalogs, reservations, and member management. The company also manages a network of local 'digital city' portals (Dordrecht.net, Papendrecht.net, etc.) that serve both as content platforms and client acquisition channels.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Digitale Steden: Digital city portals for Dordrecht, Papendrecht, Zwijndrecht, Sliedrecht, Alblasserdam, and Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht offering local news, events, photos, and business links

Products and services

• Webdesign en Webontwikkeling (Web Design and Development) Custom website design and development services producing conversion-focused websites built on the proprietary Avant CMS, targeted at SMB businesses in the Drechtsteden region.
• Webshops (Custom Webshops) Custom-built professional webshops with a user-friendly CMS for SMB clients needing e-commerce functionality, delivered as part of Avant's website portfolio offering.
• Webhosting Reliable and secure web hosting services with annual subscription packages ranging from MailOnly basic email hosting (€75/year) up to Extra Large scale hosting with 5GB storage, 100GB monthly data transfer, and 150 mailboxes (€569/year). All plans include a .nl domain name.
• SEO (Zoekmachine Optimalisatie) Search engine optimization services including keyword research, technical SEO audits, content optimization, linkbuilding, and local SEO for SMB businesses in the Drechtsteden region.
• Social Media Marketing Social media marketing services covering strategy development, content creation, advertising campaigns, and analytics for platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and LinkedIn, targeting SMB clients in the Drechtsteden region.

Quantifiable outcome

• Digital city portals have grown into full-fledged digital cities with news, activities, photos and links over the years

Named customers20 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• Stichting ANDERSminorGTM or Marketing PartnerRegional partnership with Stichting ANDERS, a Drechtsteden-based organization. Avant supports the organization through web development services and digital marketing collaboration.
• TekstatelierminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerContent writing partnership for creating optimized website copy. Tekstatelier provides text content for client websites that Avant then develops.
• Traffictoday.nlminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSEO and online marketing consulting reference partner. Referenced as expertise source for search engine optimization services.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Looop: Dutch digital agency focused on WordPress and WooCommerce development for SMBs. Closely comparable in scope (custom websites, hosting, ecommerce) and customer profile (Dutch SMBs).
• Hoppinger: Dutch digital agency specializing in web development, ecommerce (Shopify, Magento), and digital marketing for SMBs and mid-market. Comparable in offering a full-stack web-and-marketing proposition to Dutch SME clients.
• DutchWebDesign: Dutch digital agency offering web design, development, and online marketing to SMBs. A direct regional peer in the Netherlands with similar service portfolio (design + hosting + SEO) targeting comparable Dutch SME customers.
• Mirabeau: Dutch digital agency delivering strategy, design, technology, and marketing services. Comparable in bundling custom web platforms with marketing services for business clients in the Netherlands.
• Viedome: Dutch regional digital agency offering web design, hosting, and online marketing to local SMBs. Closely comparable as a small-team regional Dutch agency with a bundled design-hosting-marketing proposition.
• Pronamic: Dutch WordPress specialist agency providing web development, hosting, and optimization for organizations of all sizes. Comparable as a Netherlands-based web agency leveraging a single platform stack to serve recurring clients.

Broad incumbents

• WordPress.com: The dominant open-source CMS powering a large share of SMB websites globally. Competes directly with Avant's proprietary CMS by offering free/low-cost website building, hosting, and plugin ecosystems aimed at exactly the same small-business segment.
• Squarespace: Premium hosted website builder popular with SMBs, creatives, and small retailers. Competes for the same customers Avant serves by bundling design, hosting, ecommerce, and marketing into a self-service subscription product.
• Wix.com: Leading SaaS website builder serving SMBs with drag-and-drop design, hosting, and marketing tools. Disrupts the agency-plus-custom-CMS model Avant relies on by enabling SMBs to build and host sites without an agency intermediary.
• Sitecore: Enterprise CMS and digital experience platform. Adjacent competitor in the CMS category where Avant's proprietary system sits, representing the upper end of what a custom content platform could be expected to compete with at scale.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/avant-internet-bv

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 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 Avant