What Pickaweb Ltd does

Pickaweb Ltd, operating commercially as Hostek, is a UK-based managed hosting provider founded in 1998 and headquartered in London. The company delivers shared hosting, virtual private servers (VPS), cloud servers, reseller hosting, and managed services across Linux, Windows, cPanel, WordPress, and Adobe ColdFusion platforms. Its infrastructure spans more than 3,000 servers across data centers in the United Kingdom, Sweden, and the United States, supporting redundant architecture, load balancing, and geo-failover capabilities that underpin a 99.999% network uptime guarantee backed by a 200% SLA. Compliance with HIPAA, PCI DSS, AICPA SOC2, and SSAE 16 enables participation in regulated verticals.

The business operates a subscription-based revenue model with monthly billing across a broad pricing range from £7.49 per month for entry-level shared hosting to £159.99 per month for higher-tier ColdFusion Cloud configurations, with managed services and enterprise solutions priced on a quote basis. Distribution is primarily direct-to-consumer through the hostek.co.uk e-commerce site with self-service purchase flows, augmented by a consultative sales motion for enterprise and managed services engagements and an affiliate program. Marketing relies on organic SEO, a blog (blog.hostek.com), and customer testimonials rather than paid acquisition.

The company serves a horizontal customer base of more than 15,000 customers segmented into small business and personal users, growing mid-market businesses, enterprise clients requiring mission-critical hosting, and developer/technical users on specialized stacks. Technology partnerships include AWS, cPanel, Adobe ColdFusion, Microsoft, WordPress, and Monarx. The company is privately held with co-founders Pilar Torres Wahlberg and Tony Messer, and operates without disclosed external funding or M&A activity.

Name

Pickaweb Ltd

Legal name

Hostek

Website

https://pickaweb.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Pickaweb Ltd (operating as Hostek) is a UK-based managed hosting provider offering shared, VPS, reseller, WordPress, and ColdFusion hosting to over 15,000 small business and enterprise customers across the UK, Sweden, and the USA.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Shared Hosting: Entry-level hosting services with shared resources, including WordPress optimized shared hosting, Windows shared hosting, ColdFusion shared hosting, and cPanel shared hosting. Sold on a monthly subscription basis starting at £7.49 per month.
2. VPS and Cloud Server Hosting: Virtual private server and cloud server solutions including Windows Cloud, Linux Cloud, ColdFusion Cloud, and cPanel Cloud options. Provides dedicated resources with scalable configurations. Pricing starts at £24.99 per month for Windows VPS.
3. Enterprise WordPress Hosting: High-performance WordPress optimized cloud servers and dedicated enterprise WordPress hosting with more resources for heavier loads and multiple sites.
4. ColdFusion Hosting: Specialized hosting services for Adobe ColdFusion applications, including both shared and VPS/cloud configurations. Starting at £13.99 for shared ColdFusion hosting.
5. Reseller Hosting: Reseller programs for Windows and ColdFusion enabling partners to resell hosting services under their own branding.
6. Managed Services: Comprehensive managed services including infrastructure management on Hostek facilities or AWS, load balancing configuration, geo-failover setup, and strategic IT consulting. Includes dedicated response team support.
7. SSL Certificates and Security Services: SSL certificate sales, Internet VPN services, and Monarx security solutions for server protection.
8. Domain Registration: Domain registration services through their domains offering.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Pickaweb Ltd offers domain name registration, shared web hosting, virtual private server (VPS) hosting, reseller hosting, WordPress-optimized hosting, ColdFusion/Windows/Linux cloud servers, and managed infrastructure services. Its portfolio spans self-serve plans for small businesses and home users through to managed enterprise cloud configurations with load balancing and geo-failover. Managed services extend to AWS-hosted environments, providing infrastructure configuration, patching, backups, and 24/7 monitoring.

Product overview

Hostek is a managed server solutions provider offering a multi-tiered hosting portfolio spanning shared, VPS, reseller, and enterprise hosting services. The core product line includes WordPress Optimized Hosting (available in shared, VPS, and enterprise tiers), ColdFusion Cloud, Windows Cloud Servers, and Linux VPS solutions. Add-on modules extend the platform with SSL Certificates, Internet VPN, Monarx security, Managed Services (including AWS-specific management), Load Balancing, Geo-Failover, and SmarterTools. The company positions itself as a full-service managed hosting provider since 1998, managing over 3,000 servers for more than 15,000 customers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• 99.999% network uptime with 200% SLA guarantee
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 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

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerAWS Managed Services partnership providing managed infrastructure services on AWS cloud. Hostek offers managed services on AWS including infrastructure configuration, maintenance, and ongoing management in AWS facilities.
• cPanelcoreTechnology or IntegrationcPanel integration partner offering cPanel Cloud servers and cPanel Shared hosting. cPanel is the leading web hosting control panel used for server management.
• Adobe ColdFusioncoreTechnology or IntegrationSpecialized ColdFusion hosting provider for Adobe ColdFusion applications. Offers dedicated ColdFusion Cloud servers, ColdFusion VPS, and ColdFusion shared hosting with platform-specific optimizations.
• MicrosoftcoreTechnology or IntegrationWindows hosting specialist offering Windows Cloud servers, Windows VPS, and Windows shared hosting. Uses Windows OS and provides Microsoft-compatible hosting environment.
• WordPresscoreTechnology or IntegrationWordPress optimized hosting with dedicated WordPress Cloud servers, WordPress VPS, WordPress shared hosting, and Enterprise WordPress hosting. Optimized OS and backend application layers for WordPress performance.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Bluehost: Mass-market shared, VPS, and WordPress hosting provider serving the same SMB and individual customer base. Competes head-on with Hostek's entry-tier and WordPress-optimized offerings.
• SiteGround: Shared, managed WordPress, and cloud hosting provider targeting SMBs with a comparable self-serve-plus-consultative model. Direct overlap with Hostek's WordPress-optimized and shared hosting tiers.
• Cloudways: Managed cloud hosting built on top of AWS, DigitalOcean, and other providers, with a self-serve-plus-support model. Directly comparable to Hostek's AWS Managed Services and managed Cloud offerings.
• A2 Hosting: Shared, VPS, and managed WordPress/ColdFusion-adjacent hosting with similar developer-friendly positioning. Closely comparable to Hostek on technology stack and SMB target customer.
• HostGator: Shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting provider with comparable SMB focus and bundled WordPress/CloudLinux stacks. Direct competitor for Hostek's cPanel shared and reseller programs.
• InMotion Hosting: SMB-focused shared, VPS, and managed WordPress hosting with a similar consultative sales-plus-self-serve model. Direct overlap with Hostek's customer segments and product mix.
• DreamHost: Independent shared, VPS, and managed WordPress hosting provider with comparable open-source-friendly positioning and SMB customer base. Competes with Hostek's WordPress and shared tiers.

Broad incumbents

• Amazon Web Services (AWS): Hyperscaler cloud platform whose Lightsail, EC2, and managed services compete with Hostek's VPS, cloud, and managed offerings. Also a partner via Hostek's AWS Managed Services line — both competitor and channel.
• DigitalOcean: Cloud infrastructure provider with developer-focused VPS and managed products (App Platform, Managed Databases). Competes with Hostek's Linux VPS and managed services at a much larger scale.
• GoDaddy: Largest incumbent in domain registration and SMB hosting with a much broader portfolio. Overlaps with Hostek across shared hosting, domains, and SSL — and dwarfs it on marketing reach.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/pickaweb
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pickaweb

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 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 Pickaweb Ltd