Cortina Consult

What Cortina Consult does

Cortina Consult GmbH is a privately held German compliance consulting and SaaS company headquartered in Münster, NRW, founded around 2013 and operating with a 10-person team under CEO Jörg ter Beek. The company serves German small and medium-sized enterprises (Mittelstand) that need certified external officers and integrated compliance tooling for data protection, information security, whistleblower protection, and AI regulation. Its offerings span regulated verticals including healthcare, retail, industry, services, and automotive (TISAX), with named customer-side drivers including obligations under DSGVO, NIS-2, HinSchG, EU AI Act, ISO 27001, ISO 27701, VdS 10000, DORA, and TDDDG.

The core technology is the proprietary cloud-based Compliance Hub, which combines six software modules — DSMS, ISMS, Whistleblower Meldestelle (Parlabox, AES-256/RSA-4096 end-to-end encrypted, 14 languages), KI-Governance, Web-Compliance, and Cortina LMS — behind a unified dashboard with automated documentation, task management, 24/7 monitoring, PDF export, and a REST interface for ERP and HR integrations. Adjacent features include automated website analysis for cookie/GDPR violations and phishing simulation. The platform is paired with TÜV Rheinland, TÜV Nord, and IRCA certified consulting services delivered as externally provided officers (external Data Protection Officer eDSB from €125/month, external Information Security Officer eISB from €275/month, external Whistleblower Reporting Officer from €125/month, external AI Officer on request), supported by an E-Learning subscription starting at €250/year. The company scales fixed-price packages across SMB and mid-market buyers with both self-service SaaS onboarding and on-site nationwide consulting across 30+ German cities. Corporate-group entities CookieBox and PrivacyHub extend the ecosystem into cookie-consent and privacy-management niches. The company has cumulatively served 400+ clients and completed 500+ projects, with no public revenue or funding disclosed.

Name

Cortina Consult

Legal name

Cortina Consult GmbH

Website

https://cortina-consult.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Cortina Consult GmbH is a German compliance consulting and SaaS firm serving small and medium-sized enterprises with proprietary Compliance Hub software and TÜV/IRCA-certified expert consulting for GDPR, NIS-2, HinSchG, and EU AI Act obligations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Compliance Management Software and Consulting

NAICS

Management Consulting Services (54161), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (541690), Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (54)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) Advisory & Assessments (BPAKAHAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

IT Governance, Risk & Compliance (IT GRC) Platforms (HDAEALAK), Cloud Compliance, Audit & Continuous Controls Monitoring (CCM/GRC) (HDABAHAI)

Keywords

• GDPR compliance consulting
• Information security management
• Whistleblower protection services
• AI governance consulting
• Compliance management software

Headquarters

HQ city

Münster

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Subscription Services - External Officers: Monthly recurring subscription fees for certified external officers (Data Protection Officer, Information Security Officer, Whistleblower Reporting Officer) providing ongoing compliance support, monitoring, and expert consultation
2. Software Subscriptions - Compliance Hub: Monthly SaaS subscriptions for Compliance Hub modules including DSMS, ISMS, Whistleblower Module, E-Learning, and Web Compliance with tiered pricing based on features and usage
3. Project-Based Consulting: One-time project fees for specialized compliance projects including ISMS implementation, NIS-2 readiness assessments, ISO 27001 certification support, and data protection audits
4. E-Learning Subscriptions: Annual subscription for access to compliance training courses including role-specific modules for IT admins, HR, marketing, sales, and AI competency training

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Cortina Consult provides certified external compliance officers and a proprietary Compliance Hub SaaS platform for German SMEs. Core offerings cover data protection (GDPR/DSGVO), information security (ISO 27001, NIS-2, TISAX), whistleblower protection (HinSchG), and AI compliance (EU AI Act) delivered through monthly subscription packages combining human expert consulting with software automation.

Product overview

Cortina Consult offers a platform-plus-modules architecture combining the Compliance Hub software platform with human consulting services. The Compliance Hub is the core all-in-one platform (starting at €45/month) providing six integrated software modules: DSMS (data protection management), ISMS (information security management), Whistleblower Meldestelle/Parlabox (whistleblower reporting system, starting at €45/month), KI-Governance (AI governance), Web-Compliance, and E-Learning/Cortina LMS (training, starting at €250/year). This is complemented by professional consulting services: external Data Protection Officer (eDSB, from €125/month), external Information Security Officer (eISB, from €275/month), external Whistleblower Reporting Officer (eMSB), external AI Officer, website compliance consulting, ISMS consulting, and phishing simulation. The company targets small-to-medium enterprises (Mittelstand) in Germany with certified TÜV/IRCA experts and serves 400+ client companies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Compliance Hub
• External Data Protection Officer (eDSB)
• External Information Security Officer (eISB)
• External Whistleblower Reporting Officer (eMSB)
• DSMS (Data Protection Management Module)
• ISMS (Information Security Management Module)
• Whistleblower Meldestelle (Parlabox)
• KI-Governance Module
• Web-Compliance Module
• Cortina LMS (E-Learning Platform)
• ISMS Consulting
• External AI Officer (KI-Beauftragter)
• Website Compliance Consulting
• Phishing Simulation
• KI-Audit Course

Quantifiable outcome

• 80% less compliance effort with Compliance Hub
• +2 more outcomes

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration8 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• TÜV RheinlandcoreOthersTÜV Rheinland provides professional certification for Cortina Consult's data protection officers, validating their competency standards. The certification demonstrates that consultants meet recognized German quality standards for compliance professionals.
• TÜV NordcoreOthersTÜV Nord provides professional certification for Cortina Consult's information security consultants, validating their competency standards for ISO 27001 and related security standards.
• IRCA (International Register of Certified Auditors)coreOthersIRCA provides international auditor certification for Cortina Consult's ISO 27001 auditors, ensuring compliance with international audit standards and professional conduct requirements.
• Cookie BoxminorOthersCookie Box (cookiebox.pro) is part of the Cortina Consult corporate group, providing specialized cookie consent management solutions complementing the compliance service portfolio.
• Privacy HubminorOthersPrivacy Hub (privacyhub.pro) is part of the Cortina Consult corporate group, providing specialized privacy management and consent solutions for website compliance.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Secfix: Secfix is a Berlin-based compliance automation platform focused on ISO 27001 and GDPR for European SMBs, pairing software with expert auditors — a near analog to Cortina in geography, customer size, and module structure.
• Drata: Drata is a continuous-compliance automation platform covering SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, and GDPR with auditor integrations. It competes with Cortina for ISO 27001-adjacent workflows and signals the SaaS benchmark Cortina's Compliance Hub is measured against.
• DataGuard: DataGuard is a Munich-based compliance SaaS-plus-advisory platform offering DSGVO, HinSchG, ISO 27001, and information-security modules to European SMEs — the closest direct comparable to Cortina's hybrid model and Mittelstand target segment.
• Vanta: Vanta is a leading automated compliance SaaS for SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, and GDPR, with an expert network for remediation. Like Cortina, it pairs software with guided compliance work for SMB-to-mid-market customers, though its primary strength is US-centric frameworks.

Broad incumbents

• OneTrust: OneTrust is a global, well-capitalized privacy and GRC platform offering consent, DSAR, and compliance automation modules overlapping with Cortina's Compliance Hub across GDPR, ISO 27001, and AI governance use cases, but at enterprise scale.
• ServiceNow GRC: ServiceNow's Integrated Risk Management (GRC) suite addresses enterprise policy, risk, audit, and compliance workflows. It is a broad incumbent against which Cortina's Compliance Hub is positioned as a lighter, Mittelstand-friendly alternative.
• SAP GRC: SAP's GRC and audit-management products embed compliance, risk, and access controls inside the SAP ecosystem used by large German enterprises. While not a direct Mittelstand competitor, SAP GRC defines the upper-bound benchmark for IT-GRC platform expectations.
• AvePoint: AvePoint provides data governance, privacy, and compliance solutions for Microsoft 365 and cloud environments, overlapping with Cortina's web-compliance and data-protection modules at enterprise scale.

Regional players

• Datenschutzkanzlei (DSK): DSK is a well-known German external-DPO and privacy-law firm serving SME and mid-market clients. It is a regional-services competitor for Cortina's external data protection officer subscriptions and a benchmark for service-led positioning.
• HiScout: HiScout is a German GRC and information-security management software suite used by DACH organizations to operationalize ISMS, HinSchG, and DSGVO workflows. It competes with Cortina's ISMS and Whistleblower modules but as a pure-software vendor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCZe53CvoCpSrzTIYUgc1KoA
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cortina-consult
• Instagraminstagram.com/cortina.consult
• TikToktiktok.com/@cortinaconsultgmbh

Compliance15 records

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 Cortina Consult