CQUELLE Boutique Software Development Company

Boutique software development · Hamburg

Build your next product.
Modernize your software.

Build a new product or move an existing system forward with engineers who work in .NET, Python, and React. At CQUELLE, you speak directly with the team and see working software every week.

Discuss your project See client projects

Prefer email? welcome@cquelle.com

Hamburg, since 2019 · Engineers in Poland, Estonia, Romania and Ukraine

Client work

The problems we were brought in to solve

HealthTech

One platform for donors and staff

A blood-donation operator managed bookings and donor records in fragmented tools. We built a public booking portal and a staff back office on one .NET API.

Both audiences now work from the same records. Each organization sees only its own data, and staff have appointments and visit history in one place.

Read the case study

Legal tech

A legal product recovered after a vendor handover

After a vendor handover, a Word add-in and web app gave different AI responses to the same clauses. We took over four codebases and consolidated their AI services.

Word and web now use the same services. All four codebases ship through one release path, so the in-house team can plan its next product changes.

Read the case study

“They were very responsive and reactive both in the planning and execution of the project.”

Where does your project stand?

Build a product

You have an idea or a prototype and need a working first release. We agree the scope and acceptance criteria before development starts.

Explore a fixed scope

Improve an existing system

Your product needs new capabilities, or a previous vendor has left. We review the code and identify what to keep before proposing changes.

Tell us about the system

Extend your team

Your roadmap needs more engineering capacity. Meet the people who will join your team and work in your repositories and tools.

See how a dedicated team works

More bespoke software we delivered

All case studies
Transaction categorization with a human in the loop

Transaction categorization with a human in the loop

FinTech
Veterinary M&A marketplace and practice platform

Veterinary M&A marketplace and practice platform

HealthTech
eAssessment platform in sixty-plus countries

eAssessment platform in sixty-plus countries

EdTech
What owners ask us first

Three worries we hear in almost every first call

Each answer is something you can check, in the contract or in the repository.

// 01

“I cannot judge the code myself.”

You do not have to. Every piece of work is described in plain language before it starts, and you see it working at the weekly demo. Nothing merges without code review and a green pipeline. The handbook we work by is public on GitHub, so you can hold us to it.

// 02

“The last agency went quiet after month two.”

You get access to the repositories and the board in week one, and a demo every week after that. Fixed-scope deliveries carry a 30-day warranty. When a date is at risk, you hear it before the estimate runs out, which is a rule in the handbook, not a courtesy.

// 03

“I do not want to build an IT department.”

A standing team of 2–10 engineers you interview, or a fixed scope with one price for a list you approved. Add people within 1–2 weeks, scale down with 30 days' notice. We also take over systems a previous vendor left behind, after a 5-day look at the code.

How a dedicated team worksThe fixed-scope packages, by name and duration
What we build

Boutique custom software development from Hamburg, for businesses where the rules are part of the product.

Four fields where audit trails and data residency matter as much as the screens. If yours is not here, ask.

HealthTech

Patient and practice software, from a veterinary platform rebuilt live to a blood-donation operator. GDPR by default, HIPAA where your market requires it.

FinTech and banking

Advisory and banking platforms where every decision has to be attributable, so the audit trail shapes the architecture before the first screen.

EdTech

Assessment and learning platforms, including an eAssessment system used in research studies in 60+ countries, with tens of thousands of test-takers per cycle.

Insurtech and public sector

Policy, claims and underwriting workflows where the complexity lives in the rules; public-sector requirements, where EU team locations and on-premise come first.

How it goes

From the first call to the first code in your repository, in four weeks

You see working software every week. We split the scope into stories with written acceptance criteria, each no bigger than 24 hours of development.

WeekWhat you get
Week 1

A 30-minute call, then discovery

Bring what you have, even a one-page idea. A discovery session on your product and architecture follows in the same week.

Weeks 2–3

The proposal

For a team: roles, seniority, the CVs and your interviews. For a fixed scope: the list of stories, each with written acceptance criteria, and one price for exactly that list.

Week 4

First code ships

The team works in your repositories and your tools (Jira, Azure DevOps or Linear), with a pipeline in place before the first story is done. From here on: a demo every week, and you accept each story within 5 business days.

After launch

Hosting, operate plan, or a handover

Hosting in Frankfurt or in your own cloud, an operate plan if you want one, and a handover written for your own engineers if you do not. The code and the accounts are yours in both cases.

The people on your calls

Boutique on purpose

CQUELLE GmbH was founded in 2019 and has stayed small by choice. The engineers are mid to senior and work in pods of 2–5 with a named lead.

  • Eugen

    Eugen

    Founder, still writes code

    Hamburg, Germany

  • Roman

    Roman

    .NET & Angular Developer

    Lviv, Ukraine

  • Oleh

    Oleh

    .NET, Angular & React Developer

    Warsaw, Poland

  • Mark

    Mark

    .NET & React Developer

    Bucharest, Romania

  • Vladyslav

    Vladyslav

    Full Stack Developer

    Kharkiv, Ukraine

A larger team is assembled per engagement from the same pool, and you approve each member. How that works

When we are not the right fit

You need a fifty-person program.
We are boutique by choice: pods of 2–5 engineers, a few of them in parallel. A system integrator is the better call there.
Your stack is not ours.
We work in .NET, Python, React and Next.js, and we maintain Angular. For a PHP, Java or Ruby codebase there are better teams, and we will name a few.
You need the team in your office every day.
The contract is under German law and your contact is here in Germany; the engineers work from Poland, Estonia, Romania and Ukraine, in your hours and your tools. On-site meetings when they are needed.
You want an open-ended bill by the hour and nothing written down.
We can staff a team per role and month, but the work on the board is still stories with written acceptance criteria, so there is always something to hold us to.

The things people ask before they ask for a proposal

What does CQUELLE do?
CQUELLE is a boutique custom software development company in Hamburg, Germany, founded in 2019, with engineers in Poland, Estonia, Romania and Ukraine. We build and modernize software for HealthTech, FinTech and banking, EdTech, insurtech and the public sector on a .NET, Python and Next.js/React stack, either as a dedicated team the client approves or as a fixed scope delivered as stories with acceptance criteria.
Dedicated team or fixed scope: which one do I need?
A dedicated team fits a product with an open roadmap: 2–10 engineers, each approved by you, working in your tools for months or years, priced per role and month. A fixed scope fits a bounded piece of work: a prototype or a module on an existing system, turned into a story list with acceptance criteria and one price for that list. The first 30-minute call ends with a recommendation.
Do I own the source code and the infrastructure?
Yes. Source code, infrastructure definitions, accounts and documentation are yours from the first commit, as a standard clause in every CQUELLE contract. Our public engineering handbook says we work as if we could be replaced tomorrow, and the handover is written so that your own engineers could take over.
How does CQUELLE use AI, and can we opt out?
Our engineers use Claude Code daily under a written AI policy: approved tools only, under business agreements that exclude training on your inputs; personal data, credentials and production data never pass through an AI tool. Generated code gets the same review, tests and acceptance as hand-written code; an engineer answers for every line. On request we work without AI tools and state what that does to effort and schedule.
What does it cost?
A number needs the scope or the team composition first. A dedicated team is priced per role and month, scaled down on 30 days' notice. A fixed scope is priced per approved story list, as a Starter, Standard or Growth build with a 30-day warranty on delivered scope. The proposal sets out the cost once we have agreed what you need.
Where is CQUELLE based, and in which time zones do you work?
Headquarters and contract partner are in Hamburg, Germany. The engineers work from Lviv, Kharkiv, Warsaw, Bucharest and Tallinn, in CET and EET, within one hour of German time, with 2–4 hours of overlap with US East Coast business hours. Contracts are with a German GmbH under EU law, and GDPR applies by default.
Start with your project

What should your software do next?

Tell us what you have and where you need help. Two sentences are enough to start. We reply within 48 hours to work out the next step with you.

You can also email us directly: welcome@cquelle.com

Prefer a conversation? Request a 30-minute call with Eugen, the founder. We confirm a time by email.

Request a call

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