Design Company

What Design Company does

Design Company is an owner-operated Internet Full-Service Agency (Inhabergeführte Internet-Fullservice-Agentur) based in Solingen, Germany, founded in 2001 by René Schürmann as a sole proprietorship. The company serves small and medium-sized businesses across diverse industries including galvanotechnik, automotive, metal construction, dental, legal, cutlery, food, real estate, tax consulting, travel, cosmetics, and motorsport, with geographic focus on the Solingen region and broader Germany. Its core offerings span web design and development, e-commerce platform implementation (Shopware, modifiedEcommerce, HIS-WebShop), search engine optimization (including local SEO for the Solingen market), and complementary recurring services such as web hosting, domain registration across 500+ TLDs, WordPress maintenance contracts, product photography, remote support, and online flip catalog publishing.

The underlying technology stack is conventional and infrastructure-led: webEdition CMS (deployed since 2008) for larger client builds, PHP and MySQL/MariaDB on servers housed in Düsseldorf and Nürnberg data centers with redundant power, multi-homed connectivity to DE-CIX, N-IX, and AMS-IX, Juniper routing, and a pfSense firewall, with a guaranteed 99.6% uptime SLA. Security is delivered via Let's Encrypt SSL and integrated spam/virus protection. The company exposes no proprietary AI/ML technology of its own; its only AI-adjacent offering is a referral partnership with LunaDANA for AI-powered bookkeeping.

The business model combines one-time project fees (web design, e-commerce setup, product photography) with monthly recurring subscriptions (hosting at €12-€35/month, WordPress maintenance at €45-€125/month), plus usage-based remote support billed at €23.58 per 15-minute unit. Go-to-market is sales-led and direct: personalized consultation via phone, email, and contact form, targeting SMBs and craftsmen without any self-serve, product-led, or channel-partner motion. Marketing relies on the firm's own website, organic SEO (the company ranks #1 on Google for its brand term), and a Facebook business page, with no paid advertising or email marketing programs disclosed. There is no external funding, no parent company, and no disclosed headcount beyond the owner.

Name

Design Company

Legal name

DESIGN COMPANY

Website

https://design-company.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Design Company is a German owner-operated internet full-service agency based in Solingen, offering web design, hosting, domain registration, SEO, e-commerce solutions, and WordPress maintenance to small and medium-sized businesses throughout Germany since 2001.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Web Design and Digital Agency Services

NAICS

Graphic Design Services (541430)

SIC

Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro primary industry

Digital Creative & Experience Design Agencies (Web/App/UX) (MPAAAAAD)

Keywords

• Web design services
• Web hosting services
• Search engine optimization
• Domain registration
• Wordpress maintenance

Headquarters

HQ city

Solingen

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Web Design and Development: One-time fees for custom website creation, online shop setup, and programming services. Projects include responsive web design, CMS implementation, and e-commerce platform configuration.
2. Web Hosting Subscriptions: Monthly recurring subscription fees for web hosting packages ranging from basic (100MB, €12/month) to premium (10GB, €35/month). Includes email, databases, SSL certificates, and support.
3. WordPress Maintenance Contracts: Monthly recurring subscriptions for WordPress site maintenance. Three tiers: Silver (€45/month), Gold (€95/month), and Platinum (€125/month), covering updates, backups, security scans, and performance monitoring.
4. Domain Registration: One-time and annual fees for domain name registration across 500+ TLDs including .de, .com, .eu, and specialized extensions.
5. Remote Support Services: Billed per 15-minute unit at €23.58 (€25.85 incl. VAT) for remote troubleshooting, email configuration, and technical assistance.
6. Product Photography: Professional product photography services for online shops, including packshots and image retouching.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Design Company is an owner-operated Internet Full-Service Agency that creates custom business websites and online shops, provides search engine optimization (SEO), web hosting on its own German data centers, domain registration across 500+ extensions, WordPress maintenance subscriptions, product photography, and remote PC support. The integrated offering covers the full lifecycle of a small business's online presence from initial design through hosting, security, maintenance, and ongoing search visibility.

Product overview

Design Company is an owner-managed Internet Full-Service Agency based in Solingen, Germany, offering a comprehensive suite of digital services. Its core offering centers on custom website design (Webdesign) and e-commerce solutions (Online-Shop), complemented by search engine optimization (SEO – Suchmaschinenoptimierung / SEO Agentur Solingen). These primary services are supported by add-on modules including WordPress maintenance contracts (WordPress-Wartungsvertrag) with Silber, Gold, and Platin tiers; web hosting packages (Hosting Pakete) ranging from 100 MB to 10 GB storage on the company's own servers; domain registration and management (Domain-Service) supporting over 500 domain extensions; product photography (Produktfotografie); remote PC support (Fernwartung); and online flip catalog publishing (Online Blätterkataloge). An external AI-powered accounting service (Buchhaltung mit KI – LunaDANA) is also referenced as a partner offering. The company builds websites using webEdition CMS and supports e-commerce platforms including modifiedEcommerce, Shopware, and HIS-WebShop.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Webdesign (Website Creation Service) Custom website design and development for businesses, ranging from landing pages to comprehensive multi-page internet presences built on webEdition CMS or static HTML, including responsive implementation for all devices.
• Online-Shop (E-Commerce Solutions)

Quantifiable outcome

• Google top ranking for 'Design Company' brand search (811,000,000 results)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• IONOS SE: One of Europe's largest web hosting and cloud providers with full-stack offerings including domains, hosting, websites, and SEO tools. Competes in every category DESIGN COMPANY serves but at much larger scale and lower price points.
• Squarespace, Inc. Premium website builder targeting SMBs, professionals, and creatives with integrated design, hosting, and e-commerce. Competes at the higher-design end of the SMB website market that DESIGN COMPANY also targets.
• Strato GmbH: Major German mass-market hosting and domain provider (owned by Deutsche Telekom). Overlaps directly with DESIGN COMPANY's hosting, domain, and website builder offerings for the German SMB segment.
• Wix.com Ltd. Global website builder platform widely adopted by SMBs for DIY site creation. Competes with DESIGN COMPANY's custom web design offering on the lower-cost end of the same customer segment.
• United Internet AG: Parent company of IONOS, Strato, GMX, and Web.de — a broad incumbent portfolio across German web services. Comparable as the dominant German competitor across hosting, domains, and SMB web presence.

Direct peers

• Mittwald CM Service GmbH & Co. KG: German hosting provider specialized in CMS platforms (WordPress, TYPO3, Contao) with managed hosting and agency-friendly infrastructure. Comparable as a regional CMS-focused hosting provider with similar agency and SMB customer base.
• Hetzner Online GmbH: Major German hosting and infrastructure provider operating data centers in Germany. Comparable on the hosting, server, and data-residency dimensions; offers competing infrastructure for the same target customers.
• Jimdo GmbH: Hamburg-based website builder that serves the same German SMB segment with both DIY tools and done-for-you services. Directly comparable as a German competitor targeting small business web presence with integrated hosting.
• Host Europe GmbH: German hosting provider offering managed hosting, servers, domains, and website solutions to SMBs and resellers. Comparable on infrastructure, German data residency, and SMB/agency customer base.
• InterNetX GmbH: German domain registrar and hosting infrastructure provider serving resellers and SMBs. Comparable on domain registration services (500+ TLDs like DESIGN COMPANY) and B2B hosting infrastructure.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/designcompany3

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 Design Company