ActiveNav
ActiveNav is a Reston, Virginia-based SaaS company providing cloud-native data discovery and governance software primarily for law firms, enabling organizations to locate, classify, and manage unstructured data across repositories to reduce risk and support AI initiatives.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersReston, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What ActiveNav does
ActiveNav is a Reston, Virginia-headquartered software company that provides cloud-native data discovery and governance solutions primarily for the legal industry, operating as a division of Data Discovery Solutions (DDS). The company was founded around 2010 and has built a specialized platform — ActiveNav Cloud, hosted on Microsoft Azure — that discovers, classifies, and manages unstructured data across enterprise repositories including file shares, OneDrive, Teams, iManage, and NetDocuments. Its MatterID module differentiates by integrating with firms' systems of record (time, billing, and intake data) to locate and classify matter content, while the legacy DC Project Suite supports desktop-based data curation projects.
The company monetizes primarily through tiered SaaS subscriptions with annual billing and transparent pricing that scales with organizational size, alongside perpetual licensing for the legacy DC Project Suite. Go-to-market is enterprise-led direct sales augmented by channel partnerships with the Big Four (Deloitte, PwC, EY), Iron Mountain, and the recently announced Verlata Consulting channel covering APAC and EMEA, plus US public-sector contract vehicles including NASPO Valuepoint, NCPA, OMNIA Partners, PEPPM, and GSA Schedule 70. Customers include Am Law 200 firms (e.g., Robinson+Cole), US state and local government entities (Oregon, Virginia, Pitkin County, Regional Transport Denver), and regulated industries in financial services, utilities, insurance, and energy. ActiveNav reports hundreds of customers across 30 countries and 6 continents with a 96% CSAT score and holds ISO/IEC 27001 certification.
ActiveNav is venture-backed, with Gresham House Ventures as the disclosed institutional investor across a £2M Series A+ round in January 2022 (£1.4M from Gresham House) and a £6.3M follow-on investment in May 2024 used to fund product innovation and market expansion. The company employs 51–100 people and is led by co-founder and CEO Peter Baumann alongside CTO Rich Hale and a board chaired by John O'Connell of ScaleUp Group, with Trevor Hope representing Gresham House Ventures.
ActiveNav firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- ActiveNav
- Legal name
- ActiveNav
- Website
- https://activenav.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- ActiveNav is a Reston, Virginia-based SaaS company providing cloud-native data discovery and governance software primarily for law firms, enabling organizations to locate, classify, and manage unstructured data across repositories to reduce risk and support AI initiatives.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
ActiveNav industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Data Governance Software
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (513210), Software Publishers (5132)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Data & Analytics Platforms (Data Warehousing, Lakes, Streaming) (HDABAAAF)
Keywords
Where ActiveNav is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Reston
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
ActiveNav business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations
Revenue model
- Software Subscription (SaaS): Cloud-native subscription-based pricing model offering tiered plans that scale with organization size and data volume. Subscription model enables predictable recurring revenue with lower upfront costs for customers.
- Perpetual License: DC Project Suite offered under perpetual licensing model alongside cloud subscriptions, supporting both subscription and perpetual contracting models.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Tiered subscription pricing based on organizational scale |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
ActiveNav product offering
Product offeringCore offering
ActiveNav sells cloud-based and desktop software that discovers, classifies, and manages unstructured data across enterprise repositories for legal, government, and regulated-industry customers. Its flagship ActiveNav Cloud SaaS platform provides matter-centric visibility, ROT identification, duplicate elimination, sensitive data discovery, and audit-ready reporting, while the on-premise DC Project Suite supports legacy enterprise data cleanup projects under perpetual licensing.
Product overview
ActiveNav offers a unified platform-plus-modules architecture centered on its ActiveNav Cloud SaaS platform for unstructured data discovery and governance. The core platform is complemented by MatterID (matter identification and classification module integrating with systems of record) and DC Project Suite (desktop-based project tooling). The company also provides targeted solutions for specific use cases including Data Cleanup, Regulatory and Client Compliance, Client Matter Discovery, Breach Readiness and Recovery, Information Governance, and Data Transformation. The platform enables organizations to achieve 'Zero Dark Data' by discovering, classifying, and managing files across all repositories to power AI initiatives, reduce risk, and maintain compliance.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- ActiveNav Cloud: Cloud-native data discovery and governance platform for managing unstructured data across repositories.
- MatterID
- DC Project Suite
Products and services
- ActiveNav Cloud Cloud-native SaaS platform for unstructured data discovery, classification, and governance that enables organizations to locate, manage, and remediate data across all repositories. Purpose-built for legal teams, it provides matter-centric visibility, audit-ready reporting, sensitive data discovery, ROT identification, and duplicate comparison across petabytes of content to power AI initiatives, reduce risk, and maintain compliance.
- DC Project Suite Desktop-based data discovery and classification suite sold under perpetual licensing for legacy enterprise environments where cloud deployment is not viable. Used by organizations to conduct comprehensive data discovery and cleanup projects across their unstructured repositories.
Quantifiable outcome
- Reduced storage by terabytes for Am Law 200 firm
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use ActiveNav
Customer profileNamed customers11 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
ActiveNav technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration11 records
AI capability5 records
Feature5 records
ActiveNav partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Verlata ConsultingcoreGlobal legal technology consultancy and NetDocuments diamond partner has entered into partnership with ActiveNav to help law firms across APAC and EMEA identify, govern, and secure unstructured data. The partnership addresses the common problem of matter documents being stored outside document management systems in unstructured repositories like network file shares, cloud storage, and local drives. Joint solutions are available immediately across Verlata's APAC and EMEA markets.
- Clarion AI PartnersminorCreated white paper 'Leveraging Generative AI to Transform Your Business' in partnership with Clarion AI Partners, exploring data curation approaches for AI readiness.
- iManagecoreTechnology integration partnership with leading legal document management system provider. ActiveNav integrates with iManage for seamless data discovery and governance within document management workflows.
- NetDocumentscoreTechnology integration partnership with cloud content management platform for legal. ActiveNav connects with NetDocuments for matter-centric data governance.
- MicrosoftcoreMicrosoft Partner with ActiveNav Cloud hosted on Microsoft Azure. Full integration with Microsoft Information Protection (MIP) supporting public sector entities with labeling and protecting sensitive records.
- Iron MountainminorImplementation partner and enterprise information management services provider.
- DeloitteminorSystems integrator and consulting partner for implementation services.
- PwCminorSystems integrator and consulting partner for implementation services.
- EYminorSystems integrator and consulting partner for implementation services.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
ActiveNav competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Varonis Systems: Public data security and governance platform providing unstructured data discovery, classification, and threat detection across file systems and cloud repositories — overlapping directly with ActiveNav's core use cases.
- BigID: Data intelligence platform for data privacy, security, and governance with deep unstructured data discovery and classification capabilities — comparable in AI-readiness positioning and sensitive data discovery.
- Egnyte: Unified content governance and collaboration platform with built-in data classification, compliance, and sensitive content discovery for industries including legal and financial services.
- AvePoint: Data management, governance, and migration platform for Microsoft 365 and other cloud environments — comparable on SharePoint/Teams/OneDrive governance use cases that overlap with ActiveNav's cloud platform.
- Exterro: Legal-focused data governance and e-discovery software provider — directly comparable target market (law firms and corporate legal), with overlapping matter-centric data management capabilities.
Broad incumbents
- Microsoft Purview: Microsoft's unified data governance and compliance suite, natively integrated with M365 and Azure — directly competes with ActiveNav and is the most likely bundle/displacement threat, especially given ActiveNav is built on Azure.
- Collibra: Enterprise data intelligence and governance platform offering data cataloging, classification, and stewardship — comparable in governance scope but oriented to structured data and broader enterprise use cases beyond legal.
- OneTrust: Large-scale privacy, security, and governance platform covering data discovery, DSAR automation, and consent management — overlaps with ActiveNav's privacy/governance modules across multiple verticals.
Emerging players
- Spirion: Sensitive data discovery and classification vendor with strong unstructured data coverage — directly competes on data inventory and classification but with broader vertical focus and smaller scale.
- Netwrix: Data security and governance platform offering data classification, access governance, and compliance reporting for unstructured data — competes in adjacent governance/audit use cases.
Market position
Strengths1 record
Weaknesses1 record
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
ActiveNav social profiles
Digital presenceActiveNav compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
ActiveNav financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
ActiveNav leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles12 records
ActiveNav funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds4 records
Investors2 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
ActiveNav M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about ActiveNav
What does ActiveNav do?
ActiveNav sells cloud-based and desktop software that discovers, classifies, and manages unstructured data across enterprise repositories for legal, government, and regulated-industry customers. Its flagship ActiveNav Cloud SaaS platform provides matter-centric visibility, ROT identification, duplicate elimination, sensitive data discovery, and audit-ready reporting, while the on-premise DC Project Suite supports legacy enterprise data cleanup projects under perpetual licensing.
Is ActiveNav a public or private company?
ActiveNav is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was ActiveNav founded?
ActiveNav was founded in 2010. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is ActiveNav based?
ActiveNav is headquartered in Reston, United States, in the North America region.
How does ActiveNav make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Software Subscription (SaaS) is the primary driver. The others are perpetual License.
Who are ActiveNav's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Varonis Systems, BigID, Egnyte, AvePoint and Exterro. Broad incumbents are Microsoft Purview, Collibra and OneTrust. Emerging players are Spirion and Netwrix.
Does ActiveNav have an API?
No public API is recorded for ActiveNav.
What industry is ActiveNav in?
ActiveNav's product category is Data Governance Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDABAAAF, Data & Analytics Platforms (Data Warehousing, Lakes, Streaming). Its NAICS code is 513210 and its SIC code is 7372.