What Smartvote does

Smartvote is a Swiss non-profit online voting advice application operated by Politools, headquartered in Bern and founded in 2003. The platform helps Swiss voters identify political candidates whose policy positions align with their own views through an interactive questionnaire-based matching system. It serves three user types: individual Swiss voters seeking voting guidance, political candidates creating profiles to communicate positions, and Swiss cantons and municipalities that adopt the tool for local elections. Approximately 20% of Swiss voters use the platform and 85% of candidates participated during 2023 National Council and Council of States elections, with over 350 elections supported since inception.

The core technology is a web-based questionnaire engine paired with two proprietary visualizations: Smartspider (a radar chart displaying political positions across multiple policy dimensions) and Smartmap (a two-dimensional political landscape mapping tool). The platform is accessible at smartvote.ch in five languages (German, French, Italian, Romansh, English), with a separate candidate portal at candidate.smartvote.ch. In 2025, Smartvote initiated a research collaboration with the University of Zurich to improve its matching algorithms using AI, and in January 2026 the platform underwent a complete website redesign. The Swiss smartvote concept has also been adapted internationally, notably in Japan, where it has influenced democratic participation tools.

The business model is non-profit and donation-funded. The platform is free for voters and candidates, with a donation mechanism prominently featured on the website (e.g., a visible 25,000 CHF funding goal with 47% progress). Politools operates with a small team of 1-10 employees, distributes primarily through earned media coverage from major Swiss outlets (SRF, NZZ, RTS, regional press), and partners with Swiss cantons and the Demokratiefabrik civic platform for election deployment and questionnaire co-creation. No commercial pricing, paid tiers, or revenue-generating products were disclosed.

Name

Smartvote

Legal name

Politools

Website

https://smartvote.ch

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Smartvote is a Swiss non-profit online voting advice application operated by Politools that matches Swiss voters with political candidates through questionnaire-based algorithms and proprietary visualizations (Smartspider, Smartmap), serving voters, candidates, and cantonal/municipal elections.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Voting Advice Application

NAICS

Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (54191), Social Advocacy Organizations (8133)

akta.pro primary industry

Electoral Support & Election Observation (BPADAGAA)

Keywords

• Voting advice application
• Election recommendation platform
• Political candidate matching
• Voter decision support
• Civic engagement tools

Headquarters

HQ city

Bern

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Donations: The platform operates as a non-profit civic technology initiative funded primarily through donations. The website prominently features a 'Support smartvote' and 'Donate now' function. A donation progress indicator shows funding goals (e.g., 47% of 25,000 CHF target).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Smartvote is a Swiss online voting advice application operated by the non-profit Politools. Voters complete political questionnaires on smartvote.ch and are matched with candidates and lists whose policy positions most closely align with their preferences. The platform supports cantonal, municipal, and national elections across Switzerland and visualizes candidate positioning through Smartspider radar charts and Smartmap two-dimensional political landscape tools.

Product overview

Smartvote is a unified online voting advice platform consisting of a core questionnaire-based recommendation engine supported by visual analysis tools. The main smartvote platform collects voter preferences through questionnaires and matches them with candidate profiles to generate personalized voting recommendations. This core functionality is enhanced by Smartspider (radar chart visualization of political positions) and Smartmap (two-dimensional political positioning), which provide visual comparisons of candidates and parties across political dimensions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Smartspider: Visualization tool showing political positions of candidates on multiple axes
• Smartmap

Products and services

• smartvote The primary online voting advice platform that helps Swiss voters discover which candidates or political lists best align with their views through questionnaire-based matching. Voters answer a series of political questions and receive personalized voting recommendations based on comparison with candidate responses.
• Smartspider

Quantifiable outcome

• 20% of Swiss voters use smartvote for voting decisions
• +3 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Swiss Media PartnersminorGTM or Marketing PartnerVarious Swiss media outlets (SRF, NZZ, RTS, regional newspapers) provide coverage of smartvote and link to the platform, particularly during election periods. These are informal media relationships rather than formal partnerships.
• Swiss Cantons and MunicipalitiescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSwiss cantons and municipalities adopt smartvote for their elections. The platform works with local election administrators to set up questionnaires specific to regional political issues. Over 350 elections have been supported across various cantons.
• DemokratiefabrikminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStimmberechtigte (citizens) participate in shaping smartvote questionnaires through the online platform 'Demokratiefabrik', enabling democratic question selection process.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• OpenParlData / Civic Tech organizations: Open data standards initiatives for parliamentary and political data, conceptually adjacent to Smartvote's research-oriented transparency work (e.g., promise-tracking analysis). These infrastructure efforts support the broader civic tech ecosystem in which Smartvote operates.

Emerging players

• Vote Match Europe: European-level voting advice application that aggregates candidate positions across EU member states for European Parliament elections. Comparable to Smartvote in methodology and target audience, with the distinction of focusing on transnational EU elections rather than national ballots.
• iVotemate (Japan): Japan-based voting advice application explicitly influenced by the Smartvote model (per smartvote's own coverage). Targets Japanese voters with similar questionnaire-based candidate matching, representing the closest international adoption of Smartvote's methodology.
• VoteHub: Aggregator of political candidate positions and voting records primarily focused on the US market. While more US-centric, it shares Smartvote's goal of helping voters navigate complex ballot choices through structured candidate data.

Direct peers

• Kieskompas: Independent voting advice application serving the Netherlands market with questionnaire-based candidate matching. Operates with a similar user-facing election recommendation model and has expanded into multiple European elections, making it a directly comparable VAA peer.
• Wahl-O-Mat (BPB): Germany's most prominent voting advice application, operated by the Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung). Like Smartvote, it offers questionnaire-based candidate matching for federal and state elections, making it the closest direct peer in terms of product, audience, and civic mission.
• Vote pour (Décideur Public): French voting advice application that provides candidates' positions on key policy issues. Operates with the same questionnaire-matching model as Smartvote and serves a similar voter audience in a multiparty democracy context.
• Vote Compass (Vox Pop Labs): Canadian-origin voting advice application that has expanded to multiple countries including Australia, the US, and others. Offers questionnaire-based political positioning similar to Smartvote, with a broader commercial-style deployment model across multiple democracies.
• Stemwijzer (ProDemos): Netherlands' leading voting advice application operated by ProDemos, a non-profit civic education organization. It provides questionnaire-based candidate matching for Dutch national and European elections, sharing Smartvote's non-profit, civic-tech DNA and core product mechanics.

Broad incumbents

• ProDemos: Dutch non-profit organization promoting democracy and rule of law, which operates Stemwijzer among other civic education tools. Comparable to Smartvote/Politools as an established civic-tech non-profit with broader mandate than just voting advice.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/smartvote

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 Smartvote