NEXT Data Service
NEXT Data Service AG is a German AI holding company overseeing ventures including cityGPT (municipal chatbot), nextSearch/Corporate GPT (enterprise chatbot), nextOR (hospital OR planning), and Mineral Waste Manager. It serves B2B clients across government, healthcare, manufacturing, automotive, and financial services.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2018
- HeadquartersBerlin, Germany
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What NEXT Data Service does
NEXT Data Service AG is a German artificial-intelligence company founded in 2018 as part of the UNITY Innovation Alliance and headquartered between Berlin (Friedrichstr. 102) and Büren (Lindberghring 1). The company operated as an AI company builder that ideated, built, and scaled machine-learning solutions for B2B customers across automotive, manufacturing, government, healthcare, sports, and financial services, combining management consulting with deep tech in machine learning, big data, computer vision, and generative AI. Following a strategic March 2026 transfer of its central AI and innovation projects to sister company UNITY AG, NEXT Data Service AG has repositioned itself primarily as a holding company for two operating ventures, Mineral Waste Manager GmbH and nextOR GmbH, while remaining part of the UNITY Innovation Alliance network.
The company's product portfolio comprises four specialized AI solutions. cityGPT is a multilingual AI chatbot (50+ languages) for German municipalities and public administrations, with GDPR/DSGVO-compliant data handling and an integrated cityPulse feedback analytics module, with subscription pricing starting from EUR 3,000 per month. nextSearch (Corporate GPT) is an enterprise generative-AI chatbot platform supporting multiple LLMs, configurable data sources, and role-based access controls, certified to ISO/IEC 27001 and TISAX. nextOR applies AI-based optimization to hospital operating-room planning, multi-resource scheduling, and patient-flow coordination, including a deployment at University Medicine Essen. Mineral Waste Manager automatically interprets mineral-waste laboratory analyses to digitize waste-management workflows.
NEXT Data Service generates revenue through a combination of professional consulting services for enterprise and government clients, subscription-based product revenue (notably cityGPT), and equity value from its operating subsidiaries. Go-to-market is sales-led and event-driven, anchored by direct enterprise engagement, distribution through the UNITY Innovation Alliance network, and thought leadership at industry conferences (SVT, prostep ivip, Smart Factory Summit, PVM, DMEA). The company's track record includes named customers such as Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, VIEGA, Grauthoff, the City of Berlin, ProPotsdam, the City of Falkensee, the German Football League (DFL), and University Medicine Essen, plus ISO/IEC 27001 (July 2022), TISAX, and GDPR/DSGVO compliance certifications.
NEXT Data Service firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- NEXT Data Service
- Legal name
- NEXT Data Service AG
- Website
- https://next-data-service.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2018
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- NEXT Data Service AG is a German AI holding company overseeing ventures including cityGPT (municipal chatbot), nextSearch/Corporate GPT (enterprise chatbot), nextOR (hospital OR planning), and Mineral Waste Manager. It serves B2B clients across government, healthcare, manufacturing, automotive, and financial services.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
NEXT Data Service industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Enterprise AI & Machine Learning Software
- NAICS
- Custom Computer Programming Services (541511), Computer Systems Design Services (541512), Other Computer Related Services (541519)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming Services (7371), Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- AI/ML Engineering & Model Development Services (BPAEAHAF)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- AI/ML Solution Integration & MLOps Enablement (BPAEAAAJ), B2B SaaS & Enterprise Personalization (CRM, Sales, Support) (HDAAAGAJ), Enterprise AI Data & Knowledge Platforms (Vector Databases, Knowledge Graphs) (HDAEANAH), Real-Time Decisioning & Next-Best-Action Engines (HDAAAHAK), Data Strategy & Governance Services (BPAEAHAA)
Keywords
Where NEXT Data Service is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Berlin
- HQ country
- Germany
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices2 records
Markets served
NEXT Data Service business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Consulting Services: Professional consulting services including ideation, UX design, individual data and AI solutions. Services provided to organizations across industries leveraging company experience and skills in data science, machine learning, and big data.
- Venture Portfolio: Holding company focusing on growing ventures Mineral Waste Manager GmbH and nextOR GmbH which are establishing independently in the market. Company generates value through equity ownership in built ventures.
- cityGPT Product Licensing: AI chatbot solution for cities and municipalities offered as a product, with pricing starting from 3,000 EUR per month, providing digitalization and citizen integration services
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | cityGPT Chatbot Solution |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels9 records
NEXT Data Service product offering
Product offeringCore offering
NEXT Data Service ideates, builds and scales machine-learning and AI solutions for B2B clients across industrial, government and healthcare verticals, combining design thinking, rapid prototyping and consulting with proprietary AI products such as cityGPT (multilingual municipal chatbot), nextSearch/Corporate GPT (enterprise Generative AI platform), and operating ventures nextOR (hospital OR planning) and Mineral Waste Manager (automated waste analysis interpretation).
Product overview
NEXT Data Service operates as an AI company builder offering a portfolio of specialized AI products rather than a unified platform architecture. The product suite includes cityGPT (AI chatbot for municipal citizen services), nextSearch/Corporate GPT (enterprise chatbot platform), nextOR (AI-powered hospital operating room planning), and Mineral Waste Manager (AI solution for mineral waste analysis). These products share core AI capabilities in natural language processing, machine learning, and data analytics while serving distinct B2B verticals including government administration, enterprise customer service, healthcare, and environmental management.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- cityGPT: AI chatbot solution for cities and municipal governments, enabling multilingual citizen communication, citizen service automation, and citizen feedback collection (cityPulse).
- nextSearch (Corporate GPT)
Products and services
- cityGPT AI chatbot solution for cities and public administrations that facilitates multilingual citizen communication (50+ languages), automates citizen inquiry responses, and provides DSGVO-compliant citizen engagement with integrated cityPulse analytics.
- nextSearch (Corporate GPT) Enterprise AI chatbot platform (Corporate GPT) that enables organizations to build customizable conversational interfaces for employees and customers, supporting multiple data formats, languages, and role-based access controls with ISO 27001 certification and GDPR compliance.
- nextOR AI-powered operating room planning solution for hospitals that optimizes multi-resource planning and real-time coordination, enabling teams to prioritize patient care through self-learning program algorithms for around-the-clock optimization.
- Mineral Waste Manager AI solution that automatically interprets mineral waste lab analyses in Germany, digitizing waste management workflows and enabling transparency, efficiency, and resilience to demographic change in the mineral waste treatment sector.
Quantifiable outcome
- 99% citizen satisfaction rate in cityGPT pilot phase
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use NEXT Data Service
Customer profileNamed customers9 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
NEXT Data Service technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability9 records
Feature5 records
NEXT Data Service partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- UNITY Innovation AlliancecoreNEXT has been part of the UNITY Innovation Alliance since its founding in 2018. The alliance supports companies with comprehensive expertise in digitalization of business models, products and services from conception to implementation. NEXT remains part of the network while focusing as a holding company for its portfolio companies (Mineral Waste Manager and nextOR).
- UNITY AGcoreNEXT transferred its AI and innovation projects to sister company UNITY AG as an 'AI booster'. Some NEXT AI and software experts moved to UNITY to strengthen newly emerging in-house AI and software engineering teams. Stephan Sommer-Schulz moved from NEXT to UNITY as AI evangelist. Ventures Mineral Waste Manager and nextOR remain part of the network and continue developing within the alliance.
Scale indicators8 records
Recent moves9 records
Expansion highlights5 records
NEXT Data Service competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Statworx: Frankfurt-based AI and data science consultancy offering custom ML solutions, data strategy, and MLOps enablement for enterprise clients; directly comparable as a Germany-headquartered AI consulting firm serving similar B2B verticals with comparable headcount scale.
- Alexander Thamm: Munich-based data and AI consultancy with similar service portfolio spanning data strategy, ML engineering, and AI solution integration for enterprise clients; comparable in offering mix, German market focus, and mid-tier headcount.
- Cognigy: Düsseldorf-based enterprise conversational AI platform providing multilingual AI agents for customer service and employee support; directly competes with nextSearch/Corporate GPT in the enterprise chatbot category with stronger commercial scale.
- Parloa: Berlin-based AI customer service automation platform offering enterprise-grade conversational AI for contact center automation; comparable as a German-headquartered enterprise chatbot provider targeting similar enterprise customer support use cases.
Broad incumbents
- Celonis: Munich-headquartered process mining and AI platform operating at unicorn scale across enterprise customers; comparable as a larger German AI/data platform serving enterprise process optimization use cases overlapping with NEXT's consulting and platform offerings.
- BCG X: Global AI and digital build unit of Boston Consulting Group providing ML engineering, GenAI deployment, and AI transformation services to enterprise clients; comparable offering category at much larger scale for AI consulting engagements.
- DataRobot: Enterprise AI platform providing end-to-end MLOps and model lifecycle management for predictive and generative AI; comparable as an established AI platform vendor competing for similar enterprise AI build and deployment budgets.
Others
- UNITY AG: Sister company within the UNITY Innovation Alliance that has absorbed NEXT's AI and innovation projects as of March 2026; not a competitor but a closely related entity whose commercial alignment directly affects NEXT's strategic position and value capture.
Emerging players
- LeanTaas: Healthcare AI platform focused on hospital capacity, staffing, and patient flow optimization using predictive and prescriptive AI; directly comparable to nextOR in the hospital operations optimization vertical, though at significantly larger commercial scale.
Regional players
- Aleph Alpha: Heidelberg-based European AI foundation model provider focused on sovereign, compliant AI for European enterprise and public sector; comparable as a high-profile German AI player addressing similar European AI sovereignty and compliance narratives, though focused on foundation models rather than applied AI products.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
NEXT Data Service social profiles
Digital presenceNEXT Data Service compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance4 records
NEXT Data Service financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
NEXT Data Service leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles6 records
NEXT Data Service subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries2 records
NEXT Data Service funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
NEXT Data Service 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 NEXT Data Service
What does NEXT Data Service do?
NEXT Data Service ideates, builds and scales machine-learning and AI solutions for B2B clients across industrial, government and healthcare verticals, combining design thinking, rapid prototyping and consulting with proprietary AI products such as cityGPT (multilingual municipal chatbot), nextSearch/Corporate GPT (enterprise Generative AI platform), and operating ventures nextOR (hospital OR planning) and Mineral Waste Manager (automated waste analysis interpretation).
Is NEXT Data Service a public or private company?
NEXT Data Service is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was NEXT Data Service founded?
NEXT Data Service was founded in 2018. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is NEXT Data Service based?
NEXT Data Service is headquartered in Berlin, Germany, in the Europe region.
How does NEXT Data Service make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Consulting Services are the primary driver. The others are venture Portfolio and cityGPT Product Licensing.
Who are NEXT Data Service's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Statworx, Alexander Thamm, Cognigy and Parloa. Broad incumbents are Celonis, BCG X and DataRobot. UNITY AG is listed as an others. LeanTaas is listed as an emerging player. Aleph Alpha is listed as a regional player.
Does NEXT Data Service have an API?
No public API is recorded for NEXT Data Service.
What industry is NEXT Data Service in?
NEXT Data Service's product category is Enterprise AI & Machine Learning Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAEAHAF, AI/ML Engineering & Model Development Services, with a secondary code of BPAEAAAJ, AI/ML Solution Integration & MLOps Enablement. Its NAICS code is 541511 and its SIC code is 7371.