Sign in

Private company

Qype

Logo: Cradiguet1, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

Hamburg social networking company

Qype was a Hamburg-based web 2.0 company centred on social networking and local reviews. They operated websites in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland, Poland, Spain, Italy and Brazil, and had approximately 22 million monthly unique European visitors. Competitor Yelp announced their acquisition of Qype in October 2012 for a reported US$50 million.2 It ceased to exist in 2013.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

2005Founded1
  • IndustryInternet1
  • HeadquartersHamburg1
  • Websitewww.qype.com
  • Legal formGesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung1

See how the biggest companies compare on our leaderboards

Qype was a Hamburg-based web 2.0 company centred on social networking and local reviews. They operated websites in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland, Poland, Spain, Italy and Brazil, and had approximately 22 million monthly unique European visitors.2

The story

Qype was founded in March 2006 by Stephan Uhrenbacher for the German market. The initial funding came from Partech Ventures (Paris) and Advent Ventures (London).

In July 2007, Qype UK was launched, adding English to the interface and content. In January 2008, the website was translated into French, in anticipation of the launch of Qype France. Subsequent versions were released through 2011, including localized versions of the site for Spain, Ireland, Austria and Brazil.

Qype provided incentives for users to write reviews including giving away iPod Shuffles and Amazon vouchers.

From Wikipedia’s article on Qype, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Timeline

  1. 2013Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 2005Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4