Knight Moves

What Knight Moves does

Knight Moves NV is a privately held service design consultancy headquartered in Ghent, Belgium, with a secondary office hub in Antwerp. Founded in 2015, the firm operates with a 16-person team of managing partners, service designers, strategy design leads, UX designers, and researchers, and serves both Belgian public-sector organizations (cities, municipalities, Flemish agencies, NMBS-SNCB, VDAB) and large European enterprises (Toyota Connected Europe, Acerta, Nickel, Aquafin, Bebat). Its work centers on human-centered service design, applying user research, co-creation workshops, persona development, and iterative prototyping to redesign services that are accessible (WCAG 2.1 level AA) and inclusive.

The firm's core product is bespoke service design consulting, augmented by three supporting offerings: a two-day introductory Service Design Training program delivered in Dutch (priced €300–€1,200 per participant depending on student/individual/employer/non-profit status), the twice-yearly ARENA free professional conferences, and the Service Design Podcast. It is a founding member of the Leap Forward design collective (with Little Miss Robot, Once, Fluo, Anvil), a member of the Cronos Groep network for surge capacity, co-founder of the Belgian Chapter of the Service Design Network, and a member of the DigitAll coalition on digital inclusion. Awards include Henry van de Velde Gold (2021) and Award (2020), and Smart City Award (2025).

Knight Moves earns revenue primarily from project-based consulting fees and secondarily from training program tuition; ARENA conferences and podcast content are free and function as top-of-funnel demand generation and community building. Go-to-market combines content marketing, events, training, and direct enterprise/public-sector sales, with anchor projects spanning mobility, railway, wastewater, energy transition, banking, payments, museums, libraries, and youth employment. The firm is bootstrapped, with no disclosed funding rounds or institutional investors.

Name

Knight Moves

Legal name

Knight Moves NV

Website

https://knightmoves.be

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Knight Moves is a Ghent-based Belgian service design consultancy that helps public-sector bodies and large enterprises design accessible, human-centered services through user research, co-creation, training, and community events.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Service Design Consulting

NAICS

Management Consulting Services (54161)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Change Management & Transformation Consulting (BPAHAGAC)

Keywords

• Service design consulting
• Human-centered design
• Co-creation workshops
• User experience research
• Service strategy design

Headquarters

HQ city

Ghent

HQ country

Belgium

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Consulting Services: Service design consulting engagements including user research, co-creation workshops, service strategy development, and design implementation
2. Training Programs: Public and customized service design training programs delivered in-person, with flexible pricing for individuals, students, employers, and non-profits
3. Events and Community: ARENA free professional conferences generating community engagement and indirect business development

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Knight Moves is a service design consultancy that helps organizations design user-centered, accessible, and inclusive services. Its core offering includes service design consulting engagements (user research, co-creation workshops, persona development, customer journey mapping, prototyping, and iterative design) delivered to enterprise and government clients. It also runs paid public and customized service design training programs in Belgium.

Product overview

Knight Moves is a Service Design consultancy based in Ghent, Belgium, offering a portfolio of professional services including service design consulting (core offering), a two-day Service Design Training program (educational service), ARENA professional conferences (event series), and a Service Design Podcast (media content). These offerings are interconnected: consulting projects apply service design methods to client challenges, training programs spread these methodologies to professionals, ARENA events foster knowledge-sharing in the community, and the podcast extends reach to international audiences. The company focuses on human-centered, accessible, and inclusive service design across public and private sector clients.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ARENA: A free one-evening conference for professionals organized by Knight Moves, held twice yearly, featuring speakers on service design topics.
• Leap Forward
• Service Design Podcast

Products and services

• Service Design Consulting Human-centered service design consulting engagements covering user research, co-creation workshops, persona development, customer journey mapping, prototyping and implementation. Delivered to enterprise and government organizations undergoing service transformation.
• Service Design Training

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 100 concept and user tests conducted for Toyota Connected Europe across Belgium, France, and Italy
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers16 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Leap ForwardcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKnight Moves is a founding member of Leap Forward, a design and innovation group formed with Little Miss Robot, Once, Fluo, and Anvil. The collective helps clients design groundbreaking products, services, and experiences.
• Cronos GroepminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerKnight Moves is part of the Cronos Groep, which provides access to talented reinforcements when needed for projects.
• De Link vzwminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with povertyexperts by experience from De Link vzw to continuously evolve Knight Moves' approach to inclusivity.
• DigitAllminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerKnight Moves is a member of DigitAll, a coalition of companies, societal organizations, and government bodies working together for more digital inclusion in Belgium. They have committed to 9 engagements to bridge the digital divide.
• Service Design Network - Belgian ChaptercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKnight Moves co-founded the Belgian battalion of the Service Design Network, alongside Peel and Universiteit Antwerpen.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Direct peers

• Livework: European service design consultancy with origins in the UK. Comparable in service design methodology and client mix across public sector and large enterprise, with stronger multi-country European presence than Knight Moves.
• Snook: Service design agency focused on public sector and social impact work in the UK. Highly comparable in mission (human-centered, inclusive service design) and vertical mix, though operating in Scotland rather than Belgium.
• Public Digital: Digital transformation consultancy specializing in public sector, with strong European footprint. Comparable in public-sector focus and human-centered design approach, though with a stronger technology delivery layer than Knight Moves.
• Methods: UK-based service design and research consultancy with strong public-sector practice. Comparable in methodology (user research, co-creation, service prototyping) and government/healthcare client mix.
• IDEO: Pioneer of human-centered and service design consulting globally. Directly comparable to Knight Moves in methodology (design research, co-creation, prototyping) and project types, but operates at far larger scale and global footprint.
• Made by Many: London-based digital product and service design studio. Comparable in service design methodology and mid-sized enterprise client mix, with similar team scale and focus on co-creation.

Broad incumbents

• Designit (Wipro): Global design strategy and service design consultancy, now part of Wipro. Comparable in service design offering and global enterprise clients, with broader digital implementation capabilities that Knight Moves cannot match.
• Fjord (Accenture Song): Global design and innovation consultancy within Accenture Song. Overlaps Knight Moves on service design and customer experience projects but operates as part of Accenture's broader digital transformation portfolio with significantly larger delivery capacity.
• McKinsey Design (McKinsey & Company): Design and innovation arm of McKinsey, offering human-centered service design at the top end of the market. Overlaps Knight Moves on enterprise service transformation but pairs it with broader strategy consulting and operates at vastly larger scale.
• Deloitte Digital: Digital transformation arm of Deloitte, including service design and customer experience capabilities. Competes with Knight Moves for large enterprise and public-sector transformation mandates, with global delivery capacity.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/knight-moves---service-design
• Instagraminstagram.com/knightmovesdesign
• Xx.com/KnightMoves111

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles16 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 Knight Moves