FID

What FID does

FID Verlag GmbH is a privately held German publishing company headquartered at Koblenzer Straße 99, Bonn (Handelsregister HRB 7435, Amtsgericht Bonn), founded around 1990 and operating with a headcount of 11-50. The company runs a direct-to-consumer subscription publishing business built around two specialized editorial verticals: maxLQ, a medical and consumer health information brand served via gesundheitswissen.de and premium.maxlq.de, and Investor Verlag, an independent stock market and financial investment information brand served via investor-verlag.de. Subscriptions are sold with a 2-year minimum contract term for consumers (effective 01.02.2022) and include both print and digital delivery, with a premium digital tier (GESUNDHEIT.digital+) gated behind customer-number registration.

The technology footprint is a conventional multi-property web platform hosted exclusively on AWS in Frankfurt (eu-central-1) with Cloudflare CDN distribution, a customer self-service portal (kunde.fid-verlag.de) for subscription and payment management, and the One Click Trading app (developed with partner LRT Finanz-Research GmbH) for financial content consumption and trade execution. The marketing and operations stack includes Google Ads, Microsoft Bing Ads, Meta Pixel, Taboola, Criteo, Outbrain, AdRoll, Optimizely Campaign email, Twilio telephony, Zoom and WebinarGeek for webinars, Computop Paygate and PayPal for payments, and Kameleoon and Mouseflow for conversion and UX optimization.

Commercially, FID generates revenue primarily through recurring subscription sales (health and finance newsletters), supplemented by affiliate referral commissions via the Amazon Partner Program and Userwerk post-purchase offers. Customer segments are predominantly German-speaking individual consumers in health and personal finance, with a secondary B2B segment covering trade, commerce, public sector, and professional buyers priced on a net (VAT-exclusive) basis. The company is led by Geschäftsführer Michael Schrader and Richard Rentrop, with Marcus Brede responsible for editorial content under § 18 Abs. 2 MStV. The careers page links to vnrgroup.com, suggesting an affiliated group relationship with VNR Verlag für die Deutsche Wirtschaft AG, though no formal ownership structure is disclosed.

Name

FID

Legal name

FID Verlag GmbH

Website

https://fid-verlag.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1990

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

FID Verlag GmbH is a privately held Bonn-based subscription publisher serving German-speaking consumers with health information under the maxLQ brand and financial/stock market content under the Investor Verlag brand, monetized through multi-year print and digital subscriptions plus affiliate referrals.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Consumer Publishing & Subscription Media

NAICS

Periodical Publishers (513120), Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYMPAJAMAD

Digital Magazine & Newspaper Subscription Platforms (Paywalls, Membership)

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Publishing (Books, News, Magazines)/Digital Publishing Platforms (E-books & Online Articles)

SECONDARYMPAJAKAD

Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) Sales & Merchandising (Publisher Stores, Bundles)

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Publishing (Books, News, Magazines)/Print & Digital Distribution (Wholesalers, Subscription/Newsstand)

Keywords

• Subscription publishing
• Health information services
• Financial newsletters
• Consumer publishing
• Investor education content

Headquarters

HQ city

Bonn

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Subscription Publishing: FID Verlag generates primary revenue through subscription-based publishing of health and financial information products, offered in both print and digital formats. Subscriptions have minimum contract terms (typically 2 years) with monthly or annual billing options. Additional revenue from premium login services and digital product tiers.
2. Affiliate Marketing: The company participates in the Amazon Partner Program, earning commissions on qualifying purchases made through affiliate links placed on their web properties.
3. Affiliate Partner Products: FID Verlag offers third-party product recommendations via affiliate partners. Contracts are between the customer and the affiliate partner; FID Verlag acts as an intermediary without assuming responsibility for product availability, pricing, or accuracy of product descriptions.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

FID Verlag GmbH is a Bonn-based direct-to-consumer publishing house that produces and distributes subscription-based information services in two core verticals: health (maxLQ) and investment/financial topics (Investor Verlag). The company sells recurring subscription packages that combine print mailings, digital content, and member-only platforms (such as GESUNDHEIT.digital+ and the One Click Trading App), targeting individual German-speaking consumers seeking curated health advice and stock-market guidance.

Product overview

FID Verlag GmbH is a publishing company operating multiple subscription-based content brands across health and financial information verticals. The core product portfolio includes maxLQ (health information at gesundheitswissen.de), Investor Verlag (financial/stock market services at investor-verlag.de), and GESUNDHEIT.digital+ (premium digital content platform at premium.maxlq.de). The company also offers the One Click Trading App for financial recommendations execution, and a Customer Self-Service Portal for subscription management. Products are delivered via physical mail, digital subscriptions, and online access, with a customer portal for account self-management.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• maxLQ: Medical and scientific health information plus consumer tips for more quality of life and personal success. Website: gesundheitswissen.de
• Investor Verlag

Products and services

• maxLQ

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Amazon Web Services (AWS) EMEA SARLcoreTechnology or IntegrationAWS provides cloud hosting and distribution of web content for FID Verlag's online properties. Hosting is exclusively on AWS systems in the Frankfurt region (eu-central-1) data centers. AWS processes data on behalf of FID Verlag as a data processor under GDPR Art. 28.
• Cloudflare, Inc.coreTechnology or IntegrationCloudflare provides a globally distributed Content Delivery Network (CDN) with DNS services for FID Verlag's websites. It routes traffic between users and web servers, helps detect and block attacks, and may set cookies for optimization and analysis purposes.
• Google Ireland Limited (Analytics, Tag Manager, Maps, Fonts, reCAPTCHA)coreTechnology or IntegrationGoogle provides multiple integrated services including Google Analytics (web analytics with IP anonymization), Google Tag Manager (tag management), Google Maps (location display), Google Web Fonts (typography), and reCAPTCHA (bot/spam protection). These are embedded across FID Verlag's web properties.
• PayPal (Europe) S.à r.l. et Cie, S.C.A.coreTechnology or IntegrationPayPal is offered as a payment processing option for online purchases. Transaction IDs, email addresses, and transaction amounts are processed for payment settlement.
• Optimizely GmbH (Optimizely Campaign)coreTechnology or IntegrationOptimizely Campaign is used for email newsletter and E-mail advertising delivery. Email addresses and related subscriber data are processed on Optimizely's servers in German data centers under a data processing agreement (Art. 28 DS-GVO).
• Computop Paygate GmbHcoreTechnology or IntegrationComputop provides PCI DSS-certified payment gateway services for credit card processing (MasterCard, Visa, American Express). Customer payment data (name, address, card number anonymized) is processed through Computop for secure payment processing.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• Naturheilmagazin / GuK Verlag (health newsletter niche): Independent German publisher focused on natural health and wellness content via subscription newsletters and digital portals. Closely comparable to FID's maxLQ in health-vertical specialization and D2C subscription mechanics for German-speaking audiences.

Broad incumbents

• Axel Springer SE: Germany's largest digital media and publishing company (Die Welt, Business Insider, Finanzen.net). Operates overlapping financial-information and consumer media properties at scale; competes for the same advertising and subscription wallet as FID.
• Wort & Bild Verlag (Apotheken Umschau): Germany's largest health publisher (Apotheken Umschau and related titles). Overlaps FID's maxLQ health-information vertical but at vastly larger scale and broader reach; serves as a benchmark for the addressable health-information subscription market.
• Morningstar Deutschland GmbH: German arm of global investment research firm, providing subscription-based fund data, analyst research, and premium investor tools. Comparable to FID's Investor Verlag in finance-vertical subscription model, but with institutional-scale product breadth.

Direct peers

• BörseGo AG: German financial information services provider offering stock data, market commentary, and subscription-based investor tools. Closely comparable to FID's Investor Verlag in product mix (market commentary + trading tools) and German retail-investor target audience.
• Euro Verlag GmbH (Euro am Sonntag): German financial publishing house (Euro am Sonntag, Börse Online, Euro, Money, etc.) with subscription and newsstand revenue models. Comparable finance-vertical D2C publishing to FID's Investor Verlag, though at materially larger scale.
• Finanzen Verlag GmbH: German financial publishing house producing Börse Online, Euro, Euro am Sonntag, and Money — financial magazines and subscription newsletters targeting the same retail-investor demographic as FID's Investor Verlag.
• Platow Verlag GmbH & Co. KG: Publisher of Der Platow Brief and other German financial newsletters sold primarily via subscription. Directly comparable D2C subscription model, finance vertical focus, and German SME/retail investor audience to FID's Investor Verlag.
• VNR Verlag für die Deutsche Wirtschaft AG: Likely affiliated or sister entity — FID's careers page links directly to vnrgroup.com. Operates a similar D2C subscription-based publishing model targeting German-speaking business and professional audiences with recurring newsletters and digital products.
• Smart Investor Media (GeVestor Verlag): Publishes Smart Investor magazine and GeVestor, a D2C subscription-based financial advisory and stock-tip service for German retail investors. Direct comparable to FID's Investor Verlag in subscription mechanics and finance-vertical positioning.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/fidverlagmedia
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fid-verlag-gmbh

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 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 FID