Eltern

What Eltern does

Eltern.de is a German-language online parenting portal operated by FUNKE Women, People & Family GmbH, a subsidiary of the FUNKE Mediengruppe, headquartered in Hamburg and serving DACH-region families since 1999. The platform organizes editorial content across the full parenting lifecycle — Kinderwunsch (conception), Schwangerschaft (pregnancy), Baby, Kleinkind (toddler), Schulkind (school-age), Teenager, and general family life — combining expert-reviewed articles, personal columns, and community stories with a suite of practical tools including an ovulation calculator, due date calculator, growth calculator, and a week-by-week Schwangerschaftskalender. The core distribution surfaces are the eltern.de website, the ELTERN Schwangerschaft & Baby app on iOS and Android, a weekly email newsletter, the ELTERNgespräch podcast, a WhatsApp channel, and a YouTube presence.

The underlying technology is a content management system-based editorial website augmented by deterministic digital tools and mobile applications; the input data discloses no proprietary AI/ML systems, API platform, or patent portfolio. Distribution is direct-to-consumer across web, mobile, email, podcast, and messaging channels, supported by an SEO-led content marketing strategy. The business model is primarily advertising-driven (display and banner ads, sponsored content), supplemented by affiliate commerce (e.g., Amazon book links, Vorname.com referrals), the ELTERN Club membership program (free to join, with sweepstakes and exclusive promotions), and the ELTERN Akademie online courses (pregnancy yoga, postpartum recovery) hosted on the Brigitte Academy platform. Customer segments are segmented vertically by life stage and use case — couples trying to conceive, expectant mothers, parents of infants/toddlers, parents of school-age children, and parents of teenagers — with the primary monetization occurring through third-party advertiser relationships rather than direct consumer pricing.

Name

Eltern

Legal name

FUNKE Women, People & Family GmbH

Website

https://eltern.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Eltern.de is a German parenting portal operated since 1999 by FUNKE Women, People & Family GmbH within the FUNKE Mediengruppe, serving DACH-region families from conception through teenage years with editorial content, calculators, a pregnancy app, community, and online courses.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Parenting Media and Family Content

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), All Other Schools and Instruction (61169), Educational Services (611)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Comprehensive ECE Curriculum Frameworks (Birth–5) (EDACAJAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Adaptive & Personalized Learning Platforms for ECE (EDACANAJ), Family Engagement & Take-Home Learning Materials (Home Packs, Parent Guides) (EDACAJAL)

Keywords

• Parenting media portal
• Family lifestyle content
• Pregnancy tracking tools
• Parenting community platform
• Editorial family resources

Headquarters

HQ city

Hamburg, Hamburg

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Content or Editorial, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Display and Banner Advertising: The website generates revenue primarily through advertising, including display ads, banner advertisements, and sponsored content sections throughout the editorial content.
2. Affiliate Commerce Revenue: Eltern.de participates in affiliate marketing programs, earning commissions on product recommendations and book purchases made through affiliate links (e.g., Amazon affiliate links for recommended children's books and parenting resources).
3. ELTERN Club Membership: The ELTERN Club offers an exclusive membership program with monthly sweepstakes and exclusive actions, potentially monetized through premium features or partnership arrangements with brands.
4. ELTERN Academy Online Courses: The platform offers online courses through the ELTERN Academy (academy.brigitte.de/familie) covering topics like pregnancy yoga and postpartum recovery, generating revenue through course fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Eltern.de is a German-language online parenting portal that publishes expert-reviewed editorial content covering all phases of family life from the desire to have children through the teenage years. It bundles the editorial site with interactive digital tools (ovulation, due date, and growth calculators, plus a 40-week pregnancy calendar), the ELTERN Schwangerschaft & Baby mobile app, the ELTERN Club community membership, the ELTERN Akademie online courses, the ELTERNgespräch podcast, and the ELTERN email newsletter.

Product overview

Eltern is a German online parenting platform organized as a unified content portal with complementary mobile applications, membership programs, and interactive tools. The core offering is the Eltern.de website providing editorial content organized by life phases (Kinderwunsch, Schwangerschaft, Baby, Kleinkind, Schulkind, Teenager, Familie). This is supported by the ELTERN Schwangerschaft & Baby mobile app, the ELTERN Club membership program, the ELTERN Akademie online learning platform, the ELTERNgespräch podcast, and various digital tools including calculators (Eisprungrechner, Geburtsterminrechner, Wachstumsrechner), online games, and product comparison services. The offerings span from preconception through teenage years, providing comprehensive family lifecycle coverage.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ELTERN Akademie: Online learning platform offering courses for parents including yoga during pregnancy and postpartum recovery
• ELTERN Club
• ELTERNgespräch
• ELTERN Schwangerschafts-App

Products and services

• Eltern.de Website Comprehensive German online parenting portal offering editorial articles, expert-reviewed content, and resources covering all phases of family life from the desire to have children through the teenage years, organized by life stage (Kinderwunsch, Schwangerschaft, Baby, Kleinkind, Schulkind, Teenager, Familie).
• ELTERN Schwangerschaft & Baby App Mobile application serving as a week-by-week pregnancy and baby companion, available on iOS and Android, offering guidance through the 40 weeks of pregnancy and the first year of the baby's life for German-speaking expectant and new parents.
• Eisprungrechner (Ovulation Calculator) Web-based calculator tool that determines fertile days and ovulation based on the user's cycle data, targeted at couples trying to conceive.
• Geburtsterminrechner (Due Date Calculator) Calculator tool that determines the expected due date based on the last menstrual period or known conception date, for expectant mothers.
• Wachstumsrechner (Growth Calculator) Web tool that predicts how tall a child will become based on the heights of the parents, aimed at parents curious about their child's growth trajectory.
• Schwangerschaftskalender (Pregnancy Calendar) Week-by-week editorial guide through all 40 weeks of pregnancy covering fetal development and maternal health, aimed at expectant mothers.
• ELTERN Club Free membership program offering registered users exclusive sweepstakes, brand promotions, and community features tied to the 'Deutschlands größte Familien-Community' positioning with urbia.de.
• ELTERN Akademie (ELTERN Academy) Online learning platform offering parenting-related courses such as yoga during pregnancy and postpartum recovery, delivered through academy.brigitte.de/familie with separate course-based pricing for German-speaking parents.
• ELTERNgespräch Podcast Podcast series featuring in-depth conversations on parenting topics, hosted by Christine Rickhoff, distributed as on-demand audio for German-speaking parents.
• ELTERN Newsletter (Phase E) Regular email newsletter providing curated editorial content about pregnancy, babies, and family life, positioned as a companion through all phases of parenthood for German-speaking subscribers.

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Ukrainian Book Institute (UBI)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2022Editorial coverage of the Ukrainian Book Institute's crowdfunding project to print Ukrainian children's books for refugee children, demonstrating content partnership approach for social causes.
• Vorname.comminorGTM or Marketing PartnerVorname.com is featured in the navigation as a partner for baby name search functionality, with affiliate tracking links (utm_source=Eltern.de) driving referrals from Eltern.de to name-related services.
• Center ParcsminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCenter Parcs advertises on Eltern.de through branded content sections under 'Endlich Gemeinsam-Zeit' (Finally Quality Time Together), targeting families planning vacations with specialized family resort offerings.
• ELTERN Akademie (Brigitte Academy)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerELTERN Academy operates on the Brigitte Academy platform (academy.brigitte.de/familie), co-developing and delivering online courses including pregnancy yoga and postpartum recovery programs, extending Eltern.de's content into structured educational offerings.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• The Bump: US pregnancy-focused editorial and tools platform (week-by-week tracker, registry, checklists). Comparable to Eltern's pregnancy calendar and tool-driven approach, though narrower in lifecycle coverage.
• Parents.com: Established US parenting media brand with editorial coverage from pregnancy through teens. Comparable in lifecycle breadth, editorial authority, and multi-decade brand positioning.
• BabyCenter: Global pregnancy and parenting platform with localized country editions. Comparable as the dominant English-language/global reference parenting site, providing a benchmark for scale, content taxonomy, and app feature set.

Regional players

• Kidspot: Australia/New Zealand parenting and family-life editorial platform. Comparable in lifecycle coverage, content depth, and tool-driven engagement, serving a different English-speaking geography.
• Netmums: UK-focused parenting community and content site. Comparable as a national parenting community+editorial hybrid, though geographically separate from Eltern's DACH footprint.

Direct peers

• urbia.de: German parenting and family community forum. Directly comparable as a German-language parenting destination, and explicitly co-branded with Eltern through the 'Deutschlands größte Familien-Community' positioning.
• familie.de: German family/parenting editorial portal covering pregnancy through family life. Closely comparable in language, audience, content depth, and stage coverage to Eltern.de.
• mama.de (or mamamia.de): German-language parenting and motherhood media site. Comparable as a DACH parenting editorial destination serving expectant and new mothers with editorial and community content.

Others

• Brigitte (Academy / Magazine): German women's magazine brand within FUNKE Mediengruppe that hosts the ELTERN Akademie on academy.brigitte.de. Comparable as a sibling FUNKE brand enabling cross-promotion, and as the platform under which Eltern's educational monetization runs.
• Vorname.com: German baby-name search and generator site featured in Eltern's navigation as a tracked affiliate partner. Adjacent to Eltern's Kinderwunsch content and a real-world example of its partner-driven extension strategy.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/elternde
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCXqt4ZjPlQBnRqAI6iWNHBQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/elternde
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/eltern
• Instagraminstagram.com/elternde

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Eltern