NextMe
NextMe is a Chicago-based, bootstrapped SaaS platform providing cloud-based virtual waiting room and queue management software to service-based businesses across 30+ verticals, including restaurants, healthcare, events, retail, and government. Founded in 2016 by the Yi brothers, it serves thousands of businesses via web and mobile.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2016
- HeadquartersChicago, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What NextMe does
NextMe, Inc. is a privately held, bootstrapped SaaS company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, founded in 2016 by brothers James and John Yi after observing waitlist pain points at their mother's beauty salon. The company operates a cloud-based virtual waiting room and queue management platform accessible via web browser, iOS app, and Android app, with real-time multi-device syncing. Its product portfolio centers on five integrated modules — Waitlist Management, Virtual Waiting Room, Self Check-in, Bookings, and Analytics — that together replace physical pager systems and paper waitlists with branded digital queues, SMS notifications, two-way SMS confirmations, predictive wait times, repeat-visitor recognition, and analytics dashboards with CSV/Excel exports.
NextMe serves service-based businesses across more than 30 industry verticals, with named case studies spanning restaurants (Lou Malnati's across 15 locations, Black Bear Diner), retail (Best Buy Geek Squad, Fenty Beauty), entertainment and events (LEGO, Marvel at SDCC 2025, Formula 1 Arcade, SXSW, NCompass, KPOPMERCH), healthcare and government (Mid City Pediatrics, SCDMV), veterinary (multiple urgent cares), cannabis dispensaries, education, logistics, and beauty/wellness. The platform integrates alongside dominant vertical software stacks, including EHR systems (Epic, Athenahealth, Oracle Health/Cerner, Allscripts, Meditech), POS systems (Square, Lightspeed, Clover), CRM platforms (HubSpot, Salesforce), and event platforms (Cvent, Eventbrite), and supports HIPAA-compliant usage postures for healthcare deployments.
The business operates a tiered SaaS subscription model: a free tier (100 SMS/month, 1 user), Starter ($49.99/mo annual or $59.99/mo monthly), Business ($79.99/mo annual or $99.99/mo monthly), and a Custom enterprise tier with SLAs, custom integrations, and one-on-one training. Distribution is hybrid: a self-serve product-led growth motion via a 14-day free trial and free plan layered with sales-assisted acquisition for mid-market and enterprise accounts, supported by content marketing, comparison content vs. competitors (Waitlist Me, QLess), and active event presence. No external funding rounds have been disclosed, and headcount remains at 1-10 employees, indicating organic, capital-efficient scaling.
NextMe firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- NextMe
- Legal name
- NextMe, Inc.
- Website
- https://nextmeapp.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2016
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- NextMe is a Chicago-based, bootstrapped SaaS platform providing cloud-based virtual waiting room and queue management software to service-based businesses across 30+ verticals, including restaurants, healthcare, events, retail, and government. Founded in 2016 by the Yi brothers, it serves thousands of businesses via web and mobile.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
NextMe industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Virtual Waiting Room and Queue Management Software
- NAICS
- Custom Computer Programming Services (541511)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Virtual Clinic Queueing & Smart Routing Platforms (care navigation to right setting) (HLALAJAK)
Keywords
Where NextMe is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Chicago
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
NextMe business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- SaaS Subscription Plans: NextMe operates a tiered SaaS subscription model with four main plans: Free ($0/month, 100 SMS/mo, 1 user), Starter ($49.99/month annual / $59.99/month monthly, 3,000 SMS/mo, 5 users), Business ($79.99/month annual / $99.99/month monthly, 5,000 SMS/mo, 10 users), and Custom (flexible limits and users, designed for enterprise/high-volume use). Annual billing provides discounts of $120-$240 vs monthly rates. The primary upsell path is volume-based (more SMS, more user seats) and feature-based (White Label branding, Analytics, Phone support unlock at higher tiers).
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free plan — $0/month, 100 SMS/month, 1 user |
| Subscription | Annual | Starter plan — $49.99/month annual / $59.99/month monthly, 3,000 SMS/month, 5 users |
| Subscription | Annual | Business plan — $79.99/month annual / $99.99/month monthly, 5,000 SMS/month, 10 users |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Custom plan — 'Let's Chat', flexible limits, flexible users |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels7 records
NextMe product offering
Product offeringCore offering
NextMe provides a cloud-based virtual waiting room and queue management SaaS platform that enables service-based businesses to manage customer waitlists, eliminate physical lines, and deliver branded digital waiting experiences. The platform combines waitlist management, a customizable SMS-delivered virtual waiting room, self check-in via QR/kiosk/website, appointment bookings, and analytics into one multi-vertical solution sold via tiered subscription plans across more than 30 industry verticals.
Product overview
NextMe is a unified queue management and virtual waiting room platform designed for service-based businesses. The product portfolio centers on the core NextMe Waitlist App, which combines Waitlist Management, Virtual Waiting Room, Self Check-in, Bookings, and Analytics into a single integrated system. These modules work together: Waitlist Management handles intake and queue operations, Virtual Waiting Room delivers branded guest engagement, Self Check-in enables self-service queue joining, Bookings manages appointments alongside walk-ins, and Analytics provides reporting. The platform supports over 30 industry verticals including restaurants, events, healthcare, veterinary, retail, dispensaries, education, government, beauty and wellness, and entertainment. Pricing tiers include Free ($0, 100 SMS/mo), Starter ($49.99/mo annual, 3,000 SMS/mo), Business ($79.99/mo annual, 5,000 SMS/mo), and Custom enterprise plans.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- NextMe Waitlist App and Queue Management Platform Cloud-based virtual waiting room and queue management software that enables service-based businesses to manage customer waitlists, eliminate physical lines, and deliver branded digital waiting experiences via web, iOS, and Android. Combines waitlist management, a customizable Virtual Waiting Room delivered through SMS, self check-in via QR code/kiosk/website, appointment bookings, and analytics into one subscription platform spanning more than 30 industry verticals including restaurants, healthcare, veterinary, retail, events, government, education, beauty and wellness, dispensaries, entertainment, and logistics. Sold via tiered SaaS subscriptions (Free $0/month, Starter $49.99/month annual, Business $79.99/month annual, Custom).
Companies that use NextMe
Customer profileNamed customers29 records
Segments11 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
NextMe technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration19 records
Feature9 records
NextMe partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators22 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
NextMe competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Square Appointments (Square Waitlist): Square's broader commerce platform bundles Appointments and a built-in Waitlist feature for SMB salons, barbershops, and wellness businesses. It competes with NextMe in SMB beauty/wellness as part of a much wider POS/payments/appointments portfolio, and many of NextMe's POS integrations explicitly plug into Square.
- OpenTable Waitlist: OpenTable, the dominant restaurant reservation platform, offers a walk-in waitlist feature alongside its core reservation business. As part of a vast restaurant SaaS ecosystem, it competes with NextMe in restaurant queue management but is not specialized in waitlist/queue-only operations.
Emerging players
- ClinicQ: ClinicQ is a healthcare-focused queue management and patient flow platform with deeper clinical workflow integration. It represents the kind of vertical-specialist competitor that could displace NextMe in healthcare, one of NextMe's 30+ served verticals.
Direct peers
- QLess: QLess is a virtual queue management and appointment scheduling platform focused on government, education, and healthcare verticals. It is named directly in NextMe's comparison content as a competitor, making it the most directly comparable peer in both product (virtual waiting room and queue management) and target market.
- Hostme: Hostme is a restaurant table and waitlist management platform serving restaurants and hospitality businesses. Like NextMe, it offers digital waitlists, SMS notifications, and self check-in, though its focus is narrower (restaurants vs. NextMe's 30+ verticals).
- Yocale: Yocale is an online booking and waitlist platform for salons, spas, barbershops, and wellness businesses. NextMe explicitly lists Beauty and Wellness as a vertical, and Yocale competes for the same SMB beauty/wellness operators with appointment + walk-in management.
- Waitlist Me: Waitlist Me is a waitlist app for restaurants and small businesses, with a long-standing consumer brand. NextMe publishes direct comparison content positioning against Waitlist Me, indicating overlapping target customers (SMB restaurants) and similar core functionality around digital waitlists.
- JRNI: JRNI offers enterprise appointment scheduling and queue management for retail, banking, and healthcare. Its combination of appointments and walk-in queue management maps closely to NextMe's Bookings + Waitlist Management pairing, and it competes for the same multi-location enterprise customers that buy the Custom tier.
- Waitwhile: Waitwhile is a virtual waiting room and queue management platform serving retail, healthcare, government, and events. Like NextMe, it offers customizable branded virtual waiting rooms, multi-vertical support, and SMS-based guest notifications, making it a direct comparable in product category and feature set.
- Waitlist by Olo (formerly NoWait): NoWait was acquired by Olo, the restaurant commerce platform, and now operates as Olo's restaurant waitlist product. It directly competes with NextMe in restaurant waitlist management but with the backing of a major enterprise restaurant POS ecosystem.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses6 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
NextMe social profiles
Digital presenceNextMe compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
NextMe financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
NextMe leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
NextMe funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
NextMe 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 NextMe
What does NextMe do?
NextMe provides a cloud-based virtual waiting room and queue management SaaS platform that enables service-based businesses to manage customer waitlists, eliminate physical lines, and deliver branded digital waiting experiences. The platform combines waitlist management, a customizable SMS-delivered virtual waiting room, self check-in via QR/kiosk/website, appointment bookings, and analytics into one multi-vertical solution sold via tiered subscription plans across more than 30 industry verticals.
Is NextMe a public or private company?
NextMe is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was NextMe founded?
NextMe was founded in 2016. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is NextMe based?
NextMe is headquartered in Chicago, United States, in the North America region.
How does NextMe make money?
One revenue line is on record: saaS Subscription Plans.
Who are NextMe's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Square Appointments (Square Waitlist) and OpenTable Waitlist. ClinicQ is listed as an emerging player. Direct peers are QLess, Hostme, Yocale, Waitlist Me, JRNI, Waitwhile and Waitlist by Olo (formerly NoWait).
Does NextMe have an API?
No public API is recorded for NextMe.
What industry is NextMe in?
NextMe's product category is Virtual Waiting Room and Queue Management Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLALAJAK, Virtual Clinic Queueing & Smart Routing Platforms (care navigation to right setting). Its NAICS code is 541511 and its SIC code is 7372.