How big is Hartstikke?

Around 5 full-time equivalents (financial year 2025).

Who are the clients of Hartstikke?

Among others Venly, ML6, UAntwerpen, Scaleup Vlaanderen, VRT, Mediahuis.

Review: Hartstikke: digitaal creatief bureau

Q: What is Hartstikke specialised in?

Campaign concepts & big ideas, Campaign execution, Content strategy & editorial, Copywriting & long-form content, Website development, Web development.

Hartstikke, opgericht in 2020, is een creatief bureau uit Gent. Op de loonlijst staan ongeveer 5 voltijdse equivalenten. Ze werken rond creatie & reclame, content & copy en webdevelopment. Sectoren waar het bureau vaak werkt: technologie/tech-bedrijven en complexe materie verstaanbaar maken.

Merkbureau aan het tempo van een start-up
Hartstikke is een creatief bureau voor het digitale tijdperk. Ze vertellen graag merkverhalen voor SaaS- en technologiebedrijven, en media- en entertainmentbedrijven. Daarvoor verzorgen ze de (re)branding, copywriting, website en sales- en pitchdecks.
Het liefste werken ze voor start-ups en scale-ups uit de Deloitte Fast-50.
Dat doen ze op dit moment met 8 VTE’s:

2 zaakvoerders (naast strategie design & copy)
1 copywriter
1 webdeveloper
4 designers

Wat ze niet doen: performance marketing, PR, video

Referentieklanten: Venly, ML6, UAntwerpen, Scaleup Vlaanderen, VRT, Mediahuis
Gepercipieerde concurrenten: Verve, Base Design, Skinn, Valued
Voorbeelden: Verve, Momkai, Bakken & Baeck
Werken graag complementair samen met: Marked, Exstatic, BlueLines
Tech stack: Webflow, Figma, Notion
Ondernemingsnummer: 0755.859.137
Gemiddelde klantgrootte: 15k

Who do they see as competitors?

Base Design Skinn Valued

As indicated by the agency itself.

1

How this agency makes money

Revenue, margin and what an hour of work brings in. Everything on the earning side sits together here.

Revenue trendgross margin per financial year

20212022202320242025

Latest year: € 265.516 gross margin, growth +1,5% against a sector median of -0,1%.

At or above sector pace

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

20212022202320242025

HartstikkeSector median

EBITDA margin 9,3%, sector median 22,3%. Value-added coverage 1,10 (median 1,20). Value-added coverage sits in the sector-wide grey zone (0.95-1.15): context, not an alarm.

Below sector level

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 51.061

Median (2024) € 72.309

Against a payroll cost of € 46.184 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Below the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 33

Median (2024) € 45

7.986 hours worked, 1.536 per FTE. Against that sits € 30 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € 3 for premises, equipment, depreciation and profit.

Below the median

No hourly rate follows from this. Gross margin is already net of services and sundry goods, which mixes rebilled production with the agency's own overhead, and the accounts do not say how many hours were billable. Deriving a rate from this systematically understates it.

2

Can the agency take a hit

Buffer, cash position and payment behaviour side by side, so you can see where they disagree.

Bufferequity in months of payroll

Buffer: 12,1 months (median 6,9 mo). Equity in the latest year: € 241.251.

Adequate buffer

Cash positionAvailable cash, and whether it covers short-term debt

Cash € 263.789. Liquidity ratio 1,66: current assets cover short-term debt in full. Solvency 42,6%.

Amply covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 405 days of supplier credit, sector median 73. The accounts were filed 211 days after closing; the legal deadline is seven months.

Pays slower than average

3

Signals and strengths

Events from the CBE and the Official Gazette over the past 24 months, plus positive markers derived from the figures.

Continuity

No serious signals

Signals in the last 24 months

Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Sep 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Aug 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Aug 2026 · Google Autocomplete

Click a signal for a plain-language explanation. Each signal is a fact from a public source, without the agency's own context. Best to ask them directly.

What this agency does well

Profitable in every one of the last 5 years
Strong buffer: 12,1 months of payroll in equity
Team grew (+15,6% FTE in the latest year)
Healthy working capital (current ratio 1,66)
Equity was earned, not injected (reserves 119,6× the capital contributed)
Comfortable cash position: 401 days of payroll

Each point is a fact from the filed annual accounts, measured against the same thresholds and sector medians as the signals above.

4

All the figures

Reference material, not a starting point. Expand it if you want to read the series yourself.

5 financial years, 2021 to 2025Result, staff and balance sheet

	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Result
Gross margin	€ 77.456	€ 277.459+258,2%	€ 218.467-21,3%	€ 261.581+19,7%	€ 265.516+1,5%
EBITDA	€ 55.274	€ 185.068	€ 49.998	€ 58.885	€ 24.675
EBITDA margin	71,4%	66,7%	22,9%	22,5%	9,3%
Staff
FTE	1,5	1,50%	4,0+166,7%	4,5+12,5%	5,2+15,6%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 51.637	€ 184.973	€ 54.617	€ 58.129	€ 51.061
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 14.788	€ 61.433	€ 41.600	€ 44.320	€ 46.184
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 41.007	€ 173.633	€ 202.454	€ 234.769	€ 241.251
Cash	€ 141.192	€ 263.351	€ 292.490	€ 246.787	€ 263.789
Liquidity ratio	1,11	1,42	1,48	1,53	1,66

Payroll cost per FTE comes from the social report where available, otherwise from the Remuneration line. Both are gross costs including employer contributions.

What this factsheet does not know

How good the work is. Figures do not measure creativity, strategy or chemistry.
How the client portfolio is spread. Concentration is not in the accounts.
Freelancers and subcontractors are not in the FTE figures. An agency with 40 staff may in practice run with 70 people.
The figures cover financial year 2025, filed on 29/04/2026. At a fast-moving agency reality today may differ.

Based on publicly filed annual accounts (NBB) and official records (CBE, Belgian Official Gazette). An indication, not financial advice. Sector medians calculated on 14 Sep 2026. Sector medians based on financial year 2024: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.

What the agency actually does 5 services

Advertising & Campaigns

Campaign concepts & big ideas Campaign execution

Content & Production

Content strategy & editorial Copywriting & long-form content

Digital Experience & Tech

Website development

Sector focus

Technology & softwareMedia & entertainmentB2B servicesHealth & pharma

Publicly known clients

Techwolf, Bizzy, De Zondag, Peepel, Kom Op Tegen Kanker, EDGX, Factry, Skindr, Adomate, orderBilly, Markmi, Recommand, Highsail, Ticketmatic, Roularta

Based on IKAg research and public sources. Incomplete or outdated? Let us know.

1

People 10 people mapped

The heart of this team is creative: 5 of 10 profiles are makers. Within that core, Design, Art Direction and UX/UI Design stand out. A specialist, not a generalist: the expertise is narrow but deep. Notably, no declared strategists in sight — this agency would rather make than philosophise.

S

Simon

Co-Founder

T

Thomas

Co-Founder

J

Jana

Digital Designer

M

Marie

Operations Manager

M

Matti

Brand Designer

N

Noor

Digital Designer

Q

Quinten

Brand Designer

R

Robbe

Webflow Expert

R

Roos

Brand Designer

S

Senne

Webflow Expert

Based on public profiles. Something wrong? Let us know.

2

Seniors or juniors?

Payroll cost per FTE is the best public proxy for a team's experience level. Higher is not automatically better, but it says something about who sits at the table.

Payroll cost per FTE

€ 46.184

-24% versus the median

Team composition

5,2 FTE

41% women
59% men

€ 46.184

Median Creatief bureau (2024) € 61.047All agencies (2024) € 59.069

Read with care. Directors and partners invoicing through a management company are not in the payroll cost. At small agencies this skews the picture downwards considerably.

3

Will your team stay?

Inflow and outflow from the social report. This series only counts people on the payroll: freelancers who invoice do not appear in it. A low figure therefore means two very different things, a stable permanent team or a small core with heavy outsourcing. A high figure usually points to short contracts. Compare only within the same type of agency.

Exits 2025

76,9%

Median for this type of agency (2024): 32,5%

Inflow 2025

115,4%

6,0 FTE in, 4,0 FTE out

Net team change

+2,0 FTE

20212022202320242025

Exits are clearly above what is usual for this type of agency. That may reflect project-based staffing, but it is a reason to ask in the pitch how much of the proposed team was already here two years ago, and to contractually fix your permanent contacts.

Source: annual accounts and social reports (NBB), collected by IKAg. Financial year 2025. Calculations by IKAg; an indication, not financial advice. Sector medians based on financial year 2024: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.