enable and connect people.
Thomas Fleck founded Netresearch in Leipzig in 1998. Since then the group has built websites, content platforms and e-commerce software, launched a conference series and started companies in Germany and the US. The companies changed with every step. The mission stayed.
It started with a feeling.
In 1998 I was studying law in Leipzig. The Internet looked to me like a way to enable people and connect them with each other. I had no plan back then, only that feeling. It became my life's work.
The first years were craft. We built websites, then content management systems, and in 2001 our first e-commerce platform of our own. In 2002 AIDA Cruises made Netresearch its main Internet agency.
In 2007 I organised the first TYPO3 Anwendertag. It was my first attempt at bringing a whole community into one room. A year later we started working closely with Magento, as one of the first companies in Europe to do so.
In 2009 the founders of Magento asked me how their software could get a foothold in Germany. Exclusivity was one of the options. I went the other way and brought my competitors in, because an open market was worth more to everyone. Out of that came Meet Magento, a conference format that local partners went on to run in many countries. In 2015 we founded the Meet Magento Association, and I looked after the format until 2016.
From 2021 to 2024 I was VP Sales DACH at Oro Inc. Today I lead the Netresearch Group and spend a good part of my time with founders and entrepreneurs.
I'm also an admitted German lawyer and advise business owners before difficult decisions: le-law.de
One group. Many companies.
Netresearch has never been a single company. Each one was started for a specific job, in its own time.
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1998
Netresearch
The start in Leipzig. Websites first, then content management systems, then web software for e-commerce.
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2001
Netresearch Beteiligungs GmbH
The holding company of the group, formed together with Netresearch GmbH & Co. KG and Netresearch SD GmbH & Co. KG.
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2012
Netresearch App Factory AG
Raised venture capital to build a marketplace for Magento extensions.
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2012
2. NR Beteiligungs GmbH
A second holding company in Leipzig.
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2017
Netresearch DTT GmbH
Project business around TYPO3 platforms and e-commerce.
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2025
Netresearch US Inc.
The group's company in the United States. netresearch-us.com
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Today
Netresearch eCom
Consulting for digital sales and B2B e-commerce with OroCommerce and Shopify.
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Today
Netresearch EdTech
ScormIQ, an AI tutor that works inside existing SCORM courses.
AI changes how people learn, sell and work together.
The group puts its time and capital where that change happens: into founders, into people who want to grow, into education and into the technology behind it. Some of it will become new companies, some will be investments in companies others have started.
If you're building something in that direction, I'd like to hear about it.
Talk to Thomas.
Founder with a plan, investor looking for a partner, or entrepreneur thinking about what comes after your company? The first conversation is a call. Pick a time that suits you.
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