Data Natives
Data Natives is a Berlin-based community and media platform that operates Europe's largest network for AI and data professionals, hosting annual conferences, hackathons, open forums, and a paid digital membership platform across 50+ global hubs.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersBerlin, Germany
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Data Natives does
Data Natives, operated by Dataconomy Media GmbH and founded by Elena Poughia in Berlin in 2015, is Europe's largest community platform for AI practitioners and data professionals. The company organizes a portfolio of physical and virtual events — including the annual flagship Data Natives conference in Berlin (DN22, DN Unlimited), themed open forums on topics such as NLP, climate tech, and cybersecurity, and large-scale hackathons (up to 20,000 participants) — backed by a digital membership platform that distributes recorded talks, webinars, and community content. A global Ambassador Programme operating across 50+ cities extends the company's reach without proportional headcount expansion.
Its core technology is a community events and media platform rather than a software product: there is no proprietary app, API, or SDK, and AI/ML does not appear as a productized capability. The go-to-market motion is community-led, leveraging grassroots ambassadors, social channels, email, and earned media (Forbes, CNN, Handelsblatt) to drive attendance and membership.
Revenue is generated through three streams: conference and event ticket sales (one-time/perpetual licensing at €37.50–€99 per attendee across student, non-profit, and professional tiers), recurring community memberships (€20 for three months of access to the content library), and corporate sponsorships (notably SAP, Alibaba Cloud, and Berlin Partner). Customers are heterogeneous: a long tail of individual data scientists, founders, students, and CDOs on the attendee side, and a smaller set of enterprise sponsors on the revenue side. No venture funding, parent company, or acquisition activity has been disclosed; the 11–50 employee company operates as an independent private limited company headquartered in Berlin with co-located operations in the United States.
Data Natives firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Data Natives
- Legal name
- Dataconomy Media GmbH
- Website
- https://datanatives.io
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Data Natives is a Berlin-based community and media platform that operates Europe's largest network for AI and data professionals, hosting annual conferences, hackathons, open forums, and a paid digital membership platform across 50+ global hubs.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Data Natives industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Tech Conference and Community Events
- NAICS
- Convention and Trade Show Organizers (56192), Convention and Trade Show Organizers (561920)
- SIC
- Services-Membership Organizations (8600)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Virtual/Hybrid Conference Production & Platform Management (THAHACAM)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Sponsorship, Exhibitor & Partnership Management Services (THAHACAK), Conference & Trade Show Registration Platforms (THAHAFAB)
Keywords
Where Data Natives is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Berlin
- HQ country
- Germany
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Data Natives business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Conference and Event Tickets: Revenue generated from ticket sales for annual Data Natives conferences, open forums, workshops, and hackathons. Tiered pricing includes online access passes, university tickets, and non-profit pricing.
- Community Membership: Annual and multi-month community membership providing access to recordings, content library, and networking. Memberships offered at €20 for 3 months.
- Sponsorships and Brand Partnerships: Corporate sponsors sponsor specific events, open forums, or the overall conference. Examples include SAP sponsoring CDO Club events and Alibaba Cloud sponsoring climate-focused forums.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| One time/ perpetual license | Multi-year contract | Online Ticket for DN22 access |
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | Free Online Access for 3 Months |
| One time/ perpetual license | Multi-year contract | University Ticket |
| One time/ perpetual license | Multi-year contract | Non-Profit Ticket |
| One time/ perpetual license | Multi-year contract | Speakers/Sponsors/Partners Ticket |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels6 records
Data Natives product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Data Natives runs an annual in-person conference in Berlin and a global community platform serving data scientists, AI practitioners, and tech entrepreneurs. It sells event tickets, paid community memberships with access to recorded content, and corporate event sponsorships across 50+ global hubs. Supporting offerings include virtual Open Forums, hackathons, and an Ambassador Programme that distributes local events worldwide.
Product overview
Data Natives operates as a community and events platform for the data-driven generation and AI natives. The core offering centers on the annual Data Natives Conference in Berlin (including DN22 and DN Unlimited formats), complemented by a digital community platform providing membership access to recorded content and virtual events. Supporting products include Open Forums (virtual expert panels on tech topics), DN Hackathons (competitive coding events), and the Ambassador Programme (community expansion network). The platform connects 183,000+ members across 50+ global hubs through events, learning experiences, and knowledge exchange.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- DN Unlimited: Annual flagship conference focused on data and AI topics, featuring multiple tracks, workshops, and networking opportunities
- DN22
- DN Community
- Applied Data Hackathon
- CDO Club
Products and services
- Data Natives Conference (DN22, DN Unlimited) Annual flagship in-person conference in Berlin bringing together AI natives and data-driven professionals for talks, workshops, panels, and networking, drawing 5,000+ attendees.
- DN Community Platform Online membership platform providing access to session recordings, community content library, virtual events, and networking for 183,000+ members worldwide.
- Open Forums Virtual meetup series focused on human-centered tech topics including VUCA, Climate Change, NLP, Cybersecurity, and Deepfakes, featuring expert panels and networking sessions.
- DN Hackathons Coding competitions including the world's largest hackathon (20,000 participants) and the Applied Data Hackathon, offering mentorship and real-world data challenges.
Quantifiable outcome
- 183,000+ community members
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Data Natives
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Data Natives technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Data Natives partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- SAPcoreSAP partnered with Data Natives to co-host the CDO Club event focusing on the evolving role of Chief Data Officers in building data-driven organizations. The partnership brought together CDOs, Heads of Data, and senior data professionals for peer-to-peer conversations on strategies for gaining board-level impact.
- Alibaba CloudcoreAlibaba Cloud partnered with Data Natives to sponsor the Climate Change Open Forum and run the Global AI Innovation Challenge with over $100,000 in prizes. Oliver Arafat, Senior Solution Architect at Alibaba Cloud, delivered keynotes on using AI for environmental good.
- Berlin PartnerminorBerlin Partner sponsored the NLP (Natural Language Processing) Open Forum as part of Data Natives' commitment to showcasing Berlin's tech ecosystem and connecting NLP experts with the broader community.
- Applied Data IncubatorcoreData Natives partnered with Applied Data Incubator (supported by Senate of Berlin, European Social Fund, and European Commission) to host the Applied Data Hackathon, combining Data Natives' community reach with the incubator's startup support programme offering up to €48,000 equity-free funding per team.
- DataconomycoreData Natives is closely aligned with Dataconomy, Europe's leading data science media portal, sharing founders and resources to provide comprehensive coverage of data-driven technologies through events, news, and expert opinion.
- Drivery BerlinminorDrivery Berlin served as the physical location for the Applied Data Hackathon and incubator activities, providing coworking space and fostering the startup ecosystem in Berlin.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Data Natives competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- ODSC (Open Data Science Conference): Community-led conference and training platform targeting the same data science and machine learning practitioner audience, with both in-person and virtual events and paid training content. Most directly comparable in terms of audience profile and event/membership revenue mix.
- MLConf: Single-track machine learning practitioner conferences held across multiple US cities. Closely comparable in targeting working ML/data scientists with a community-and-tickets revenue model.
- AI Summit (InspiredMinds): Enterprise-focused AI conferences and exhibits (London, New York, etc.) with explicit emphasis on sponsorship and exhibitor revenue from enterprise AI buyers. Comparable commercial mix even if different audience weight.
- The AI Conference (and AI Engineer Summit): Practitioner-focused conferences on applied AI and AI engineering, with both in-person and virtual formats and corporate sponsorship. Comparable in audience (ML/AI engineers), ticketing model, and corporate sponsor mix.
- PyData (NumFOCUS community): Global community-driven meetup and conference series for Python-based data science practitioners. Comparable as a volunteer/organizer-led data science community with similar ecosystem-building function.
Regional players
- Big Data LDN: London-based data and analytics conference serving a similar enterprise data/CDO buyer, with comparable ticket, sponsorship, and free-attendee monetization. Regional counterpart in the UK with overlap on speaker/sponsor pool.
Broad incumbents
- O'Reilly (Strata Data Conference / O'Reilly Media): Operates the Strata Data Conference alongside a much broader learning and publishing portfolio. Comparable as a large-scale data/AI conference and content publisher, but with materially larger scale, paid learning platform, and enterprise publishing reach.
- Databricks (Data + AI Summit): Runs the Data + AI Summit, a large annual data/ML practitioner conference. While vendor-run rather than community-led, it competes directly for the same data practitioner attendee pool and enterprise sponsor dollars.
- KDD / ACM SIGKDD Conference: Premier academic data mining conference with strong industry sponsorship and a large practitioner/researcher audience. Comparable scale and target attendee base, though positioned differently (academic vs. community).
Others
- Dataconomy Media: Sister media portal sharing founders and resources with Data Natives (operated by parent Dataconomy Media GmbH). Provides editorial/news coverage and overlaps on audience; commercial overlap is partial, not competitive.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Data Natives social profiles
Digital presenceData Natives financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Data Natives leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Data Natives funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Data Natives 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 Data Natives
What does Data Natives do?
Data Natives runs an annual in-person conference in Berlin and a global community platform serving data scientists, AI practitioners, and tech entrepreneurs. It sells event tickets, paid community memberships with access to recorded content, and corporate event sponsorships across 50+ global hubs. Supporting offerings include virtual Open Forums, hackathons, and an Ambassador Programme that distributes local events worldwide.
Is Data Natives a public or private company?
Data Natives is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Data Natives founded?
Data Natives was founded in 2015. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Data Natives based?
Data Natives is headquartered in Berlin, Germany, in the Europe region.
How does Data Natives make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Conference and Event Tickets are the primary driver. The others are community Membership and sponsorships and Brand Partnerships.
Who are Data Natives's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are ODSC (Open Data Science Conference), MLConf, AI Summit (InspiredMinds), The AI Conference (and AI Engineer Summit) and PyData (NumFOCUS community). Big Data LDN is listed as a regional player. Broad incumbents are O'Reilly (Strata Data Conference / O'Reilly Media), Databricks (Data + AI Summit) and KDD / ACM SIGKDD Conference. Dataconomy Media is listed as an others.
Does Data Natives have an API?
No public API is recorded for Data Natives.
What industry is Data Natives in?
Data Natives's product category is Tech Conference and Community Events. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAHACAM, Virtual/Hybrid Conference Production & Platform Management, with a secondary code of THAHACAK, Sponsorship, Exhibitor & Partnership Management Services. Its NAICS code is 56192 and its SIC code is 8600.