What hbits does

hbits is a Belgian research-technology company that builds MOTUS (Modular Online Time Use Survey), a modular data collection platform purpose-built for time-use surveys, household budget surveys, and behavioral research. The platform runs on Ionic (HTML5/AngularJS) and supports both web and native mobile applications (iOS/Android), with a back-office system for researchers to design studies, coordinate fieldwork, and manage multi-country survey deployments. Distinctive technical components include the GeoService plugin (passive geolocation capture via smartphone sensors), a Receipt Scanner microservice for automated expenditure recording, and a Committed/Tentative Data architecture that separates actively registered responses from passively sensed data subject to respondent verification. The platform's stated value lies in capturing the temporal, spatial, and social context of behavior rather than only the activities themselves, addressing the contextual gap left by both traditional surveys and big-data analytics.

The company serves three primary customer segments: national statistics institutes (Destatis, Statbel) conducting official surveys, academic research institutions participating in EU-funded consortia, and EU research project partnerships such as WinWin4WorkLife and the Eurostat-funded Smart Survey Implementation Project. Revenue is generated through project-based contracts, platform licensing for official survey implementations, custom development work for specific survey needs, and shares of EU Horizon Europe / Eurostat grant funding allocated to platform development and integration. Distribution is direct (enterprise field sales into government and academic buyers) and community-led, leveraging participation in EU research consortia, conferences (NTTS), and an insights blog as credibility-building channels.

Founded as a spin-off of Vrije Universiteit Brussel in 2017 with Innoviris funding, hbits remains a small team of five to six individuals headquartered in Etterbeek, Brussels. Ownership is founder/management-led with no disclosed external institutional investors. The company operates across multiple European countries (Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, France, Slovenia, Norway, Luxembourg, Finland, Portugal, Slovakia) and reports active operations as of January 2026.

Name

hbits

Legal name

hbits CV

Website

https://hbits.io

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

hbits is a Brussels-based research-technology company that builds MOTUS, a modular data collection platform for time-use and behavioral surveys, serving European national statistics institutes, academic researchers, and EU-funded research consortia.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Survey and Behavioral Research Software

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518), Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (54191)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Document Management Systems (DMS) (HDAEAGAA)

Keywords

• Survey data collection
• Time use research
• Behavioral research platform
• Household budget surveys
• Smart survey implementation

Headquarters

HQ city

Brussels

HQ country

Belgium

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. MOTUS Platform Licensing: hbits provides the MOTUS data collection platform to government statistical agencies and research institutions for conducting official surveys. Revenue is generated through project-based contracts, platform licensing, and custom development services for specific survey implementations.
2. EU Research Project Funding: hbits participates as a technology partner in EU Horizon Europe and Eurostat-funded research projects, receiving funding for platform development and integration work.
3. Custom Research and Consulting Services: The company provides bespoke research services, survey design, and consulting for academic and government clients conducting behavioral and time use research.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

hbits develops and operates MOTUS, a modular data collection platform for conducting time use surveys, household budget surveys, and behavioral research studies. The platform is delivered through web and native mobile applications (iOS/Android), supports both continuous and retrospective respondent registration, and combines active diary entry with passive sensor-based data collection (geolocation, receipt scanning). A back-office system enables researchers and statistical agencies to design studies, manage fieldwork, and coordinate multi-country survey implementations.

Product overview

hbits offers a portfolio of products centered on the MOTUS modular data collection platform for behavioral and survey research. The core platform consists of web and mobile applications (MOTUS app) for respondents and a back-office system for researchers to design and coordinate surveys. Key supporting modules include GeoService for geolocation tracking and Receipt Scanner for automated expenditure recording. The company also provides branded white-label versions for research projects (e.g., WW4WL App) and public data access tools (tijdsonderzoek.be). MOTUS supports passive data collection through device sensors, enabling richer contextual data while reducing respondent burden.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• MOTUS: Modular Online Time Use Survey data collection platform - a modular datacollection platform for conducting time use surveys, household budget surveys, and behavioral research through web and mobile applications.

Products and services

• MOTUS Platform A modular data collection platform for conducting time use surveys, household budget surveys, and behavioral research, delivered via web and mobile applications with a back-office system for researchers to design studies, manage fieldwork, and coordinate multi-country surveys.
• GeoService Geolocation plugin for the MOTUS platform that extracts location information from smartphone sensors to provide tentative data, reducing respondent registration burden in time use surveys by surfacing stationary and travel activities for verification.
• Receipt Scanner Microservice for automated recording of expenditures that scans and digitizes supermarket receipts, enabling respondents in household budget surveys to verify products and prices rather than performing manual entry.
• MOTUS Mobile App Native mobile application for iOS and Android that enables survey respondents to record activities, time use entries, and supporting contextual data via smartphone; available on Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
• WW4WL App Custom-branded version of the MOTUS platform developed for the WinWin4WorkLife EU Horizon project, including geotracking functionality for studying remote work arrangements across five European countries.
• tijdsonderzoek.be Web Tool Public web-based tool that provides interactive access to Belgian time use survey data from 1999, 2004, and 2013, allowing users to generate custom tables showing how people in Flanders spend their time.
• MOTUS Research Portal Online portal at motusresearch.io providing FAQ pages, help documentation, and support resources for research participants in time use studies.

Quantifiable outcome

• 74.5% of survey respondents preferred the digital app over paper diaries in the German Time Use Survey (ZVE2022)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022hbits is a spin-off of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, originating from the TOR (Time, Organisation, and Rhythm) research group. The company maintains close ties with VUB for ongoing research collaboration and academic credibility. The MOTUS platform originated from the HERCULES-project 'MOTUS' (Infrastructure for Continuous Modular Online Time-Use Survey) conducted at VUB.
• Destatis (German Federal Statistical Office)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDestatis uses the MOTUS platform for conducting the German Time Use Survey (ZVE2022), Household Budget Survey (EVS2023), and continuous Household Budget Surveys (LWR). This partnership involves ongoing development of platform features including receipt scanning and geotracking for official statistics production.
• Statbel (Belgian Statistical Office)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStatbel partnered with hbits to conduct the Belgian Time Use Survey 2022 (BTUS22) using the MOTUS platform. The survey targets approximately 2,000 households over a full year, conducted in Dutch, French, and English.
• EurostatflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerEurostat funded the Smart Survey Implementation (SSI) project and ESSnet Trusted Smart Surveys project, both of which utilized and advanced the MOTUS platform. Eurostat-coordinated projects bring together multiple national statistics institutes to develop standardized approaches for official statistics collection.
• WinWin4WorkLife ConsortiumflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerWinWin4WorkLife is a 3.5-year EU Horizon Europe project investigating remote work impacts across five European regions (Germany, Finland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovakia). hbits provides the MOTUS platform for employer surveys, employee surveys, and time-use diaries with geolocation. Consortium includes 15 partners including universities and research institutes.
• LISER (Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLISER is the coordinator of the WinWin4WorkLife project and conducted employer surveys in Luxembourg with 2,600 participating employers. LISER has presented preliminary findings on remote work productivity and mental health impacts.
• ZEW (Leibniz Institute for Economic Research)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerZEW is a partner in the WinWin4WorkLife project, conducting employer surveys on remote work in Germany's Munich Metropolitan Region, examining impacts on housing prices.
• Trexima BratislavacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTrexima Bratislava is the WinWin4WorkLife project partner for Slovakia, conducting research on whether remote work can help counteract brain drain in rural areas. They hosted the second consortium meeting in Bratislava.
• Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUPM leads the Delphi survey and local workshops component of WinWin4WorkLife, bringing together stakeholders and experts to shape sustainable remote work policies.
• BSI (Brussels Studies Institute)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBSI partnered with hbits for the pedestrian zone study in Brussels, combining MOTUS app with API-location to analyze how the expanded pedestrian zone affects daily life.
• ULB (Université libre de Bruxelles)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerULB is a partner in the Brussels pedestrian zone research project alongside BSI, ULB, and hbits.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Qualtrics: Enterprise experience management platform with deep survey-building, distribution, and analytics capabilities serving academic, government, and commercial customers globally. Overlaps with MOTUS in survey delivery and mobile data collection, but operates at vastly larger scale and broader scope.
• SurveyMonkey: Mass-market online survey platform with broad adoption across enterprises, academic institutions, and government agencies. Competes with MOTUS for general survey workloads but lacks hbits's diary-specific methodology and passive sensor integration.
• Forsta (formerly Confirmit): Enterprise feedback and research management platform offering survey, voice-of-customer, and market research technology. Overlaps with MOTUS in supporting structured research and customer/employee insight programs for large organizations.
• Medallia: Enterprise experience management platform capturing customer and employee feedback across channels including surveys. Competes with hbits for institutional survey budgets, particularly in workforce/HR analytics, though at significantly larger scale.

Direct peers

• Jotform: Drag-and-drop online form and survey builder with strong mobile app distribution and offline data collection. Comparable to MOTUS as a mobile-first data collection platform, though oriented toward general-purpose form building rather than diary-based official statistics.
• LimeSurvey: Open-source online survey application widely used by academic institutions and government agencies for custom survey design. Directly comparable to MOTUS as a survey-building platform serving the same NSI and university buyer base, though without hbits's specialization in diary-based time-use methodology.
• Alchemer (formerly SurveyGizmo): Flexible online survey and feedback platform with API-first architecture, strong in enterprise and mid-market customer experience programs. Comparable to MOTUS as a configurable survey platform but oriented toward commercial CX use cases rather than time-use methodology.
• Sawtooth Software: Specialized provider of survey research software (e.g., CBC, MaxDiff, ACA) used by market researchers and academic institutions for advanced choice-based research. Closely comparable to hbits in serving research-methodology specialists with sophisticated, niche survey tools rather than generic form builders.

Emerging players

• Toluna: Automated market research platform combining survey technology with consumer panels for insights delivery. Comparable to MOTUS as a research-technology provider, though anchored in commercial market research rather than time-use and household budget methodology.
• Typeform: Modern conversational form and survey platform emphasizing user experience and mobile-first design. Overlaps with MOTUS in mobile survey delivery but targets marketing, lead-gen, and SMB use cases rather than official statistics production.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/hbits_motus
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@hbitscv5348
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wearehbits

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 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 hbits