Arge Neue Medien

What Arge Neue Medien does

ARGE Neue Medien der deutschen SHK-Industrie e.V. is a German industry association (eingetragener Verein) founded in 1988 and headquartered in Paderborn. It serves the Sanitär Heizung Klima (SHK / HVAC) industry and acts as the cross-stage standard-setter and data hub for the sector, currently representing 115+ industrial brand manufacturers including Duravit, Kaldewei, Hansgrohe, Bette, HEWI, Geberit, and reflexGroup. The organization is governed by a board chaired by Dr. Tillmann von Schroeter, with Volker Mauel and Thilo C. Pahl as vice-chairs and Wolfgang Richter as Managing Director; it operates with 11-50 staff.

The core product is Building-Masterdata.com, a free, advertisement-free digital platform that distributes product data, documents, CAD files, and planning information from the member manufacturers to specialist dealers, tradesmen, architects, and planners. The underlying technology stack centers on proprietary data standards: the DQR (Data Quality Guideline, currently v10, with v11 valid from April 2026), the international BMDG (Building Master Data Guideline, v3.0 Dec 2024, v3.1 Feb 2026 for Platform Baltics), the EDITEC EDI subset of EANCOM (v4.1), and support for ETIM classification, BIM data publication, and computer-based bathroom planning. The data processes for all 115 members were certified by SGS-TÜV Saar in November 2024. Distribution occurs through the portal, direct EDI connections, and partnerships with regional data platforms in Italy (IdroLAB), Spain (TELEMATEL), the Netherlands (SANINET), and the Baltic States.

The business model is a member-funded association: industrial brand manufacturers pay membership fees that finance standards development, data certification, the Building-Masterdata.com platform, and member services. The platform itself is provided free of charge to the downstream trade, creating a two-sided value proposition in which manufacturer dues underwrite a free utility for dealers and tradesmen that, in turn, reinforces the standard's adoption. Monetization is supplemented by international expansion (BMDG in Baltics), joint ventures (BIM platform with BDH, 2023), and emerging productization such as the digital product passport prototype with Durablox (September 2025) and the AUSSCHREIBEN.DE distribution partnership (February 2025).

Name

Arge Neue Medien

Legal name

ARGE Neue Medien der deutschen SHK-Industrie e. V.

Website

https://arge.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1988

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

ARGE Neue Medien is a German SHK (HVAC) industry association that operates Building-Masterdata.com, a free product data platform for 115+ brand manufacturers, specialist dealers, and tradesmen. It develops and maintains the DQR, BMDG, and EDITEC data standards, with growing presence across DACH and broader Europe.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Paderborn

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Membership Fees: ARGE is a registered association (e.V.) funded through membership fees from its industrial members. The organization manages member user accounts for business transactions with market partners, provides verification tools, discussion forums, and statistical evaluation of data format usage.
2. Building-Masterdata.com Platform Services: The Building-masterdata.com portal is provided free of charge and advertisement-free to specialist dealers, tradesmen, and other market participants for accessing product data, documents, and planning information.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

ARGE Neue Medien is the central data services organization for the German SHK (sanitary, heating, air conditioning) industry, providing standardized product data management through its Building-Masterdata.com platform and proprietary data standards (DQR, BMDG, EDITEC). It serves over 100/115 brand manufacturers as an industry association funded by membership fees, and offers free access to product data, documents, CAD files, and planning information for specialist dealers, tradesmen, architects, and planners.

Product overview

ARGE Neue Medien operates as a service provider and industry association for the German SHK (Sanitär Heizung Klima / plumbing, heating, air conditioning) sector, offering a portfolio of data management services centered on Building-Masterdata.com as the primary platform. The core offering includes national and international product data services based on proprietary standards (DQR, BMDG, EDITEC) for standardized electronic product data exchange. Supporting services include BIM planning data, ETIM classification, EDI message exchange, and Computer-Badplanung for bathroom visualization. The platform provides free access to product data, CAD files, and planning information from over 100 industrial members. ARGE also offers data certification services (SGS-TÜV Saar certified) and is developing a digital product passport prototype in partnership with Durablox.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Building-Masterdata.com: International digital platform for brand-name HVAC product data distribution, offering product data, documents, images, catalogs and planning information for specialist dealers and tradesmen.

Products and services

• Building-Masterdata.com International digital platform providing free, advertisement-free access to product data, documents, CAD files, product images, news, Oxomi catalogs, and planning information from over 100 HVAC and sanitary manufacturers. Designed for specialist dealers, tradesmen, architects, and planners to look up standardized multi-manufacturer product information in one place.
• National Product Data Service Provides standardized electronic product data for the German market following the DQR (Data Quality Guideline) standards. Ensures consistent data quality and format compliance for domestic distribution across the SHK industry. Designed for industrial brand manufacturers that need national product data management and distribution.
• International Product Data Service Provides standardized product data for international distribution following the BMDG (Building Master Data Guideline) standards. Enables cross-border product data exchange and harmonization across European markets. Designed for industrial manufacturers requiring internationally consistent product master data.
• BIM (Building Information Modeling) Service Provides BIM data and processes for the planning, documentation, and operation phases of building lifecycles. Jointly developed with BDH as a unified industry BIM platform. Designed for architects, engineers, and planners who need standardized, machine-readable BIM data for digital building design.
• ETIM (European Technical Information Model) Service Provides ETIM-formatted data for article classification by technical characteristics, improving article search and categorization across the SHK supply chain. Enables standardized technical product descriptions for industry members and trade partners.
• EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) Service Electronic business document exchange service using the EDITEC format (subset of EANCOM standard). Supports orders (ORDERS), order responses (ORDRSP), despatch advice (DESADV), invoices (INVOIC), remittance advice (REMADV), inventory reports (INVRPT), and sales reports (SLSRPT). Designed for manufacturers and trade partners exchanging business documents electronically.
• Computer-Badplanung (Computer Bathroom Planning) Provides electronic vector-based data for visual and technical bathroom planning software. Established solution for more than 30 years, with ARGE having expanded access to non-members. Enables planners, specialist tradesmen, and retailers to create bathroom designs using manufacturer product data via partner software (Palette CAD, SANINET).
• Data Certification Services Provides certified data and process certification via SGS-TÜV Saar GmbH. Validates the secure provision of product data from industrial members on the Building Masterdata platform, covering data processes and infrastructure. Certification awarded to ARGE for 115 industrial members in November 2024.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 46 million CAD downloads in April 2020 alone from Building-Masterdata.com
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration7 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered innovation and core.

• Durablox (0711 Software GmbH)innovationStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2025Strategic cooperation to jointly develop a prototype of the digital product passport (DPP). ARGE and Durablox agreed to work together on this innovation project for the German SHK industry.
• AUSSCHREIBEN.DEcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2025Strategic partnership between the leading platform for construction product data in the DACH region and ARGE (115+ brand manufacturer members of the HVAC industry).
• Palette CAD GmbHcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2025ARGE partnered with Palette CAD, provider of 3D planning software, to create a workshop series for 100+ brand manufacturer members on opportunities in bathroom planning.
• SGS-TÜV Saar GmbHcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 November 2024SGS-TÜV Saar certified ARGE's secure provision of product data from 115 industrial members on Building Masterdata. SGS is part of the SGS Group headquartered in Geneva.
• FEST (Fachgemeinschaft Europäischer Handelsorganisationen)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024ARGE and FEST signed a Letter of Intent for cooperation in harmonizing master data distribution in Europe. The partners met multiple times in 2023 to exchange on European guidelines and formats for master data exchange in the HVAC industry.
• BDH (Bundesverband der deutschen Heizungsindustrie)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2023Joint BIM platform development between ARGE (113 industrial members) and BDH (121 industrial members). The strong industry associations are combining their activities in BIM and merging their portals.
• TELEMATEL (Spain)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2022Kooperationsvereinbarung (cooperation agreement) for international product data exchange with the Spanish master data platform.
• IdroLAB (Italy)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2021International product data exchange partnership for the Italian market. ARGE operates building-masterdata.com as a powerful tool for distributing master data across many European countries.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• 1WorldSync: Provider of product content syndication and GS1 GDSN data services to manufacturers and retailers. Operates the data pool infrastructure that overlaps with ARGE's product data distribution role.
• Syndigo: Commercial product information management and syndication platform serving multiple verticals including building products. Directly comparable as a paid PIM/master data management competitor to ARGE's free product data platform.
• GS1 Germany: Global standards organization for product identification (GTIN/GLN) that ARGE explicitly integrates within its data standards and EDI formats. GS1 is the foundational product identification layer that ARGE builds upon.
• ETIM International: International standards body for technical classification of building products. ETIM is the underlying classification model that ARGE supports and distributes through its data services, making it a directly comparable standards-focused peer.
• AUSSCHREIBEN.DE: Leading DACH-region platform for construction product data, recently partnered with ARGE (2025). Operates a directly comparable product data platform serving construction stakeholders with manufacturer data.

Emerging players

• Stibo Systems: Provider of master data management (MDM) and product information management software for manufacturers. Indirectly comparable as a PIM/MDM vendor that competes for product data infrastructure budgets.

Broad incumbents

• BDH (Bundesverband der deutschen Heizungsindustrie): German heating industry association (121 industrial members) that jointly developed a BIM platform with ARGE in 2023. Highly comparable as an industry association with overlapping HVAC manufacturer membership and shared digital standards initiatives.
• BVBS (Bundesverband Bausoftware): German construction software industry association that has co-developed the DQR data quality standard with ARGE for over 20 years. Comparable as a construction software/standards body partner.

Regional players

• IdroLAB: Italian building product data platform partnered with ARGE (2021) for international product data exchange. Directly comparable in function but limited to the Italian market.
• TELEMATEL: Spanish construction product master data platform with a 2022 cooperation agreement with ARGE. Comparable in service offering but focused on the Iberian market.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/arge_neuemedien
• Facebookfacebook.com/ARGE.Neue.Medien

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 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 Arge Neue Medien