What Open Search Foundation does

Open Search Foundation (Open Search Foundation e.V., OSF) is a Germany-based non-profit association founded in 2018 and headquartered in Starnberg. Its mission is to develop open, transparent, and public-interest-oriented internet search infrastructure as a counterweight to opaque, commercially driven search engines. The foundation does not sell commercial products; instead, it coordinates the development of the Open Web Index (OWI) — described as Europe's first operational open web index, launched as a prototype in June 2025 after 2.5 years of development — intended to serve as the foundational layer for AI chatbots and classic search engines.

The core technology stack includes the OWI database, the Serci WebCrawler (open-source web crawler), and supporting open-source components, built in collaboration with a 14-partner European consortium (OpenWebSearch.EU) under €8.5M in Horizon Europe funding. Complementary projects include #EthicsInSearch (ethical guidelines for public-interest search, funded by Stiftung Mercator), PriDi (privacy-enhancing digital infrastructures), and the newly launched SOURCE project. The foundation operates through six expert working groups (Applications, Tech, Education + Literacy, Economy, Ethics, Legal), hosts the annual #ossym symposium series and #FreeWebSearch Day, and engages European policymakers on digital sovereignty.

The organization is funded entirely through non-commercial channels: EU research grants (Horizon Europe), foundation grants (Stiftung Mercator), individual donations, and corporate sponsorship packages. It serves multiple stakeholders — European citizens seeking transparent search, research institutions needing open data, European tech startups building alternative search services, and policymakers focused on digital sovereignty — but does not monetize its outputs. Customers are therefore best understood as funders and ecosystem partners rather than paying buyers. Leadership includes Dr. Stefan Voigt (Executive Board / Vorstand, also a researcher at the German Aerospace Center DLR) and Christine Plote (Board Member and #EthicsInSearch co-lead).

Name

Open Search Foundation

Legal name

Open Search Foundation e.V.

Website

https://opensearchfoundation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Open Search Foundation e.V. is a German non-profit (founded 2018, Starnberg) that develops Europe's first open web index (OWI) as public-infrastructure for AI chatbots and search engines, funded by EU grants, foundation support, and donations, and serving researchers, policymakers, and citizens.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Starnberg

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations: Tax-deductible donations from individuals and organizations in Germany. The organization accepts bank transfers and PayPal donations. Donation receipts are issued for amounts of 50 euros or more.
2. EU Research Funding (Horizon Europe): The OpenWebSearch.EU project received 8.5 million euros from Horizon Europe (Grant Agreement No. 101070014) over a three-year period.
3. Foundation Grants (Stiftung Mercator): Project funding from Stiftung Mercator for the #EthicsInSearch project focused on ethical guidelines for internet search.
4. Corporate Sponsorships: Individual corporate donation packages and project support options for companies seeking CSR engagement and digital sovereignty advocacy.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

The Open Search Foundation develops and coordinates open European web search infrastructure, most notably the Open Web Index (OWI) — a publicly accessible, structured database of the internet that serves as the foundational building block for search engines and AI chatbots. The foundation drives this through consortium-based R&D projects (OpenWebSearch.eu with 14 European partners), develops ethical and legal frameworks for public-interest-oriented search, and operates community-building programs including six expert working groups and international symposiums. All outputs are released as open-source / open-access assets rather than commercial products.

Product overview

The Open Search Foundation operates as a platform-plus-initiatives organization focused on developing open web search infrastructure for Europe. The core product is the Open Web Index (OWI)—a massive database containing a structured copy of the internet that serves as the foundation for AI chatbots and search engines. This core index is supported by the OpenWebSearch.eu EU project (€8.5M Horizon Europe funding with 14 partners), the #EthicsInSearch initiative for ethical guidelines, the PriDi project for privacy-enhancing digital infrastructure, and the recently launched SOURCE project. Key components include the Serci WebCrawler. The organization also runs community programs through six expert working groups (Applications, Tech, Education+Literacy, Economy, Ethics, Legal) and annual events including the Open Search Symposium (#ossym) and #FreeWebSearch Day.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Open Web Index (OWI) An open European web index infrastructure — a massive, well-structured database containing a copy of the internet — that serves as the foundational building block for AI chatbots and search engines by sorting and categorising all web data. Made available as open-source infrastructure for researchers, companies, and institutions to build search and AI services on top of.
• OpenWebSearch.eu Project A €8.5 million Horizon Europe-funded consortium project bringing together 14 European research and computing centers to develop open European web search infrastructure (OWSAI) based on European values, principles, regulations and standards.
• #EthicsInSearch Project A project dedicated to developing ethical guidelines and frameworks for public-interest-oriented internet search, addressing surveillance, tracking, discrimination, and hidden manipulation in search engines. Funded by Stiftung Mercator.
• PriDi (Privatheitsfördernde digitale Infrastrukturen) A project focused on privacy-enhancing digital infrastructures for web search, analytics, and AI applications in Europe.
• SOURCE Project A recently launched project contributing to the development and strengthening of open web search infrastructure.
• Serci WebCrawler An open source web crawler component essential for building and maintaining the Open Web Index infrastructure.

Quantifiable outcome

• Open Web Index launched as prototype with 13 partners from 7 European countries
• +1 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Feature3 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• University of PassaucoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2022Lead academic partner and project coordinator for OpenWebSearch.EU. Professor Michael Granitzer serves as project coordinator. Contributes research expertise in data science and web search technology.
• Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2022Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities computing center providing HPC infrastructure and hosting symposiums (#ossym24). Contributes technical expertise and computing resources.
• CERNcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2022European Organization for Nuclear Research hosted #ossym2021 and provides collaboration infrastructure. Contributes experience with large-scale data management.
• Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2022German Aerospace Center where Dr. Stefan Voigt leads the OpenSearch@DLR project. Contributes remote sensing and data infrastructure expertise.
• Radboud UniversitysupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2022Dutch university contributing research expertise to the OpenWebSearch.EU consortium.
• Leipzig UniversitysupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2022German university contributing research capabilities to the open web search initiative.
• Graz University of TechnologysupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2022Austrian technical university with expertise in web content analysis and search technology research.
• CSC - IT Center for Science (Finland)supportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2022Finnish research computing center hosted #ossym25 and provides HPC infrastructure for the project.
• SUMA-EVsupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2022Association for Free Access to Knowledge, German organization supporting open search and knowledge access.
• NLnet FoundationsupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2022Dutch foundation promoting open internet and free software, contributes to NGI Zero Discovery initiatives.
• Bauhaus-Universität WeimarsupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2022German university contributing web archive analytics and information retrieval research expertise.
• IT4Innovations / VSB Technical University OstravasupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2022Czech research center contributing computing infrastructure to the European consortium.
• A1 SlovenijasupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2022Slovenian telecommunications company contributing infrastructure and connectivity resources.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Common Crawl Foundation: Non-profit that provides open, web-scale crawl data to the research and AI communities — the closest direct peer to OSF. Both operate as open data infrastructure providers for the AI/search ecosystem, share open-source ethos, and address the same gap in publicly available web data.
• Qwant: European privacy-focused search engine built around the principle of digital sovereignty — directly comparable mission to OSF. Both target the EU's dependence on US search giants and emphasize non-tracking, European-controlled alternatives.
• Ecosia: Berlin-based search engine operating as a non-profit/Steward Ownership model with a privacy-respecting, mission-driven approach. Directly comparable as a European alternative search engine focused on public-interest values rather than commercial returns.
• DuckDuckGo: Privacy-focused search engine with a non-tracking ethos and similar appeal to users seeking alternatives to Google. While US-based and commercially operated, it shares OSF's positioning around ethical search infrastructure and user data sovereignty.

Broad incumbents

• Wikimedia Foundation: Large non-profit stewarding open knowledge infrastructure (Wikipedia, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons). Comparable as a mature non-profit operating critical public-interest infrastructure funded through donations and grants, with similar EU/global footprint.
• Yandex: Russia's incumbent search engine and web index operator — cited by OSF as the Russian equivalent to Google's index. Comparable as a national/regional search infrastructure provider outside US control, illustrating the model OSF aims to replicate for Europe.
• Mozilla Foundation: Major non-profit stewarding open internet infrastructure (Firefox browser, open web advocacy). Comparable as a larger, established non-profit in the open internet space with adjacent mission around open web standards and digital sovereignty.
• Internet Archive: Non-profit digital library archiving the web and providing open access to historical web content. Comparable as a long-standing open-web infrastructure non-profit with overlapping mission around preserving open access to web data.

Others

• NLnet Foundation: Dutch foundation funding open internet, free software, and digital sovereignty projects through NGI Zero. Direct strategic partner of OSF and architect of the NGI ecosystem in which OSF operates.
• OpenStreetMap Foundation: Non-profit stewarding open geospatial infrastructure — comparable as a community-built, open-data public-good platform with similar governance structure, EU roots, and mission of providing free public infrastructure as alternative to commercial incumbents.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/opensearchfoundation
• Xx.com/openwebsearch

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Open Search Foundation