What datactivist does

Datactivist is a French worker cooperative (SCOP) founded in 2016 by researchers Samuel Goëta and Joël Gombin, headquartered in Marseille and operating fully remote across roughly 15-17 employees. The firm specializes in open-data strategy, training, and data facilitation, working with both data producers and re-users to reduce information asymmetries and operationalize data reuse. Its service portfolio spans consulting (open-data strategy, data cartography, organizational readiness, quality and interoperability), training (data acculturation, visualization), and facilitation (hackathons, data sprints, territorial animation), supported by a catalog of branded methodologies such as Open Data Canvas, the Patchwork framework family, DataPosition, and the open-source Dataviz Challenge sprint guide, most published under Creative Commons BY-SA.

Revenue is generated almost entirely through professional-services engagements and training workshops on a quote-based, project-by-project basis, with no disclosed pricing or recurring SaaS contracts. Customers are predominantly French public-sector bodies (regions, départements, ministries, state agencies) supplemented by international cooperation agencies (AFD, Expertise France, CFI Médias), large private firms (ICADE, Compagnie des Alpes), and NGOs (Greenpeace, Open Government Partnership). Distribution is direct, augmented by the 2019 Data Publica alliance that pools approximately 60 public-data specialists, and by the TeamOpenData community platform that anchors Datactivist's thought leadership in the French-speaking open-data ecosystem.

The company's technology stack is centered on open-source tools and reusable methodology rather than proprietary software. Recent product extensions have broadened into adjacent governance themes—algorithmic transparency (Patchwork Algorithmes) and AI literacy (La Boîte noire de l'IA, IMMERSION IA)—reflecting an evolution from pure open-data consulting toward broader data-governance advisory. Datactivist does not publish financials, has never raised external funding (consistent with its cooperative structure), and operates with a distributed team, making it a small, mission-driven niche consultancy rather than a venture-scale platform.

Name

datactivist

Legal name

SCOP Datactivist

Website

https://datactivist.coop

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Datactivist is a French worker cooperative that helps public administrations, companies, and NGOs open and reuse data through consulting, training, and data-sprint facilitation, anchored by its own open methodologies and the Data Publica alliance.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Open Data Consulting and Training Services

NAICS

Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Advanced Analytics & Data Science Services (BPAEAHAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Data Governance Platforms (Policies, Stewardship, Workflows) (HDAEADAB)

Keywords

• Open data consulting
• Data strategy services
• Data facilitation training
• Open government advisory
• Data literacy workshops

Headquarters

HQ city

Aix-en-provence

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Consulting and Advisory Services: Strategy consulting for open data implementation, roadmap development, data mapping, quality improvement, and interoperability. Includes stakeholder awareness building and internal process configuration.
2. Training Services: Data acculturation and training programs on open data, data science context, and specific technical skills like data cleaning and visualization.
3. Data Facilitation and Mediation: Facilitation services to help data reuse by experts and beginners, including hackathons, data sprints, and territorial animation strategies.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Datactivist sells open data consulting (strategy elaboration, data cartography, organizational configuration, interoperability), training services (data acculturation, data science, visualization), and data facilitation (hackathons, data sprints, territorial animation) to public authorities, private companies, and NGOs. The company supplements these professional services with branded methodologies and workshop products (Open Data Canvas, Patchwork suite, DataPosition, Fresques) that structure its engagements and can be licensed or delivered to clients.

Product overview

Datactivist is a cooperative company specializing in open data strategy, training, and facilitation. The company offers a portfolio of branded products and methodologies including training workshops (Fresque des données ouvertes, La Boîte noire de l'IA, Kit pédagogique IMMERSION IA), assessment tools (DataPosition, EXCOM), and structured accompaniment frameworks (Patchwork Open Data, Patchwork Algorithmes, Patchwork PGD). Service offerings span consulting, training, and data facilitation, with additional community and publication resources including the #TeamOpenData platform, the Open Data Canvas framework, and the open-source Dataviz Challenge guide. The portfolio is designed for public sector organizations, private companies, and NGOs seeking to open, reuse, or govern data.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Data Publica: An alliance of consulting firms including Datactivist, formed in 2019 to offer combined services in public data management with approximately 60 specialized consultants.

Products and services

• Conseil et accompagnement (Consulting and Advisory Services) Strategic consulting service to help organizations define and implement open data strategies, including data mapping, organizational configuration for data opening, quality and interoperability improvements, and stakeholder awareness building. Targeted at public sector organizations, private companies, and NGOs.
• Formation (Training Services) Training services to acculturate organizations and individuals to data and open data practices, with workshops tailored to various skill levels. Covers open data methodologies, data visualization tools, data cleaning, and the broader data revolution context.
• Médiation de données (Data Facilitation Services) Data facilitation services that connect data producers with re-users, including the design and animation of sprints, workshops, hackathons, and community engagement activities to foster data reuse.
• Open Data Canvas (ODC) A collaborative framework providing a coherent set of ready-to-use resources and principles, governed by the community, to facilitate the opening and use of data. Targeted at open data project managers in public and private organizations.
• Fresque des données ouvertes A collaborative, card-based workshop format designed to raise awareness about data opening among diverse audiences through interactive exercises. Targeted at organizations and institutions seeking to introduce open data concepts internally.
• La Fresque de la Science Ouverte A collaborative card-based workshop format to help participants understand the stakes and concepts of open science. Targeted at research institutions, universities, and organizations seeking to engage stakeholders on open science.
• La Boîte noire de l'IA An educational workshop that demystifies the internal workings of generative AI and helps participants form informed opinions on AI systems. Targeted at organizations and the general public seeking AI literacy.
• Kit pédagogique IMMERSION IA A pedagogical kit to train teams on AI stakes and implications, enabling organizations to build AI literacy across their workforce. Targeted at organizations and training providers.
• DataPosition An assessment tool to evaluate knowledge and competencies on the data lifecycle, helping individuals and organizations identify skill gaps in data management.
• EXCOM: évaluer les externalités des commerces de proximité A methodology and resource kit to evaluate non-market effects (externalities) of local businesses, helping stakeholders understand broader impacts beyond financial performance. Targeted at territorial authorities and local economic stakeholders.
• Patchwork Open Data An end-to-end accompaniment framework that guides organizations through launching and implementing an open data initiative, covering strategy through operational execution.
• Patchwork Algorithmes An end-to-end accompaniment framework that guides organizations through building and publishing a public algorithms register, supporting transparency requirements.
• Patchwork PGD (Plan de Gestion des Données) An end-to-end accompaniment framework to build a data management plan (Plan de Gestion des Données), supporting research data governance for academic and research institutions.
• Conciergerie de données A service that improves the discoverability of open datasets, helping organizations make their data more findable and accessible to re-users.
• #TeamOpenData A French-speaking open data community platform connecting professionals to share knowledge, resources, and best practices around open data.
• Guide d'organisation d'un sprint data An open-source guide for organizing data sprints and hackathons, originally developed during the Dataviz Challenge with France's Ministry of Education. Targeted at organizations planning to run data reuse events.
• SCOPE - Livre blanc sur la commande publique ouverte A white paper on open public procurement data, identifying obstacles and recommending pathways to full open public procurement in France. Produced as part of the SCOPE Occitanie project led by the regional platform of state purchases.
• Cycle de formation à l'open data A comprehensive training program designed to train agents on data opening workflows and methodologies. Targeted at public sector organizations needing structured capacity building.

Quantifiable outcome

• Nine ambitious projects presented at Ghana hackathon closing session
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers13 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• Data PublicacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019In 2019, Datactivist allied with several consulting firms to form Data Publica: an alliance of companies sharing common values and combining their strengths around a common brand. Today, Data Publica offers services to public sector actors facing data management challenges - territorial authorities or companies serving territories. The alliance proposes services of 60 consultants and experts specialized in public data management. Datactivist is a founding member of this alliance.
• AFD (Agence Française de Développement)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDatactivist accompanied AFD in organizing a first hackathon abroad, on the occasion of the African Conference for Geospatial Data. The hackathon in Accra, Ghana aimed to promote the role of technologies in enabling wider society to address crucial issues such as agricultural evolution in the context of climate warming. The hackathon generated ambitious project ideas that AFD strengthened through personalized support.
• SCOPE Occitanie PartnersmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProject Scope (Source de la Commande Publique Ouverte Pour les Entreprises) was led by the regional platform of state purchases in Occitanie. Datactivist designed and organized the project culminating in a white paper on open public procurement data. Partners included public buyers committed to making public procurement data open, organized intelligibly, and centralized for simplification and competitiveness for businesses.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Wavestone: Large French consulting firm with a dedicated public-sector data and digital practice. Competes with Datactivist on the same open data and data strategy RFPs but from a broader transformation portfolio and substantially deeper bench.
• Capgemini: Global IT services leader with strong public-sector data and AI offerings in France; competes with Datactivist on open data and AI literacy engagements, especially larger tenders that bundle strategy, implementation and managed services.
• Sopra Steria: Major French/European IT services group with a public-sector digital and data practice. Regularly bids on French state and territorial data management engagements where Datactivist competes via the Data Publica alliance.

Direct peers

• OpenDataSoft: French data platform company that enables organizations to publish and share open data portals. Operates one step deeper in the stack than Datactivist but competes for the same budget line (open data initiatives) within French local authorities and enterprise clients.
• Open Data Institute (ODI): UK-based non-profit that originated the open data movement in the UK. Closely aligned mission to Datactivist: research, training and consulting to help governments and companies open and use data, including its own data-sprint and fellowship programmes.
• Open Knowledge Foundation: International non-profit that has built open data tooling (CKAN, Open Data Index) and training programmes - the same intellectual lineage as Datactivist's founder Samuel Goëta, who co-founded Open Knowledge France. Directly comparable training/advocacy offering in the open data domain.

Emerging players

• FING (Fondation Internet Nouvelle Génération): French think tank working on digital transformation and data in the public interest. Operates in a closely overlapping ecosystem to Datactivist, with research-led, non-commercial offerings around data and digital rights.
• Civio: Spanish non-profit focused on governmental transparency and data-driven journalism. Shares the same underlying mission of using open government data to inform citizens and is an adjacent comparator on training and reuse work.

Others

• Etalab: French government's open data task force under the Prime Minister's office. Functions simultaneously as a client of Datactivist and as the institutional counterpart whose policy direction drives much of the firm's pipeline.
• Data Publica: Alliance of French consulting firms (including Datactivist as a founding member) pooling roughly 60 consultants specialised in public data management. A partner/co-bidder on most of Datactivist's largest engagements rather than a competitor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/datactivist
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/datactivist
• Xx.com/datactivi_st
• Facebookfacebook.com/datactivist

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about datactivist