Nextcloud, a leading European software company, has launched its investment program "Sovereignty 2030" to drive digital sovereignty and independence across Europe. The ambitious plan involves investing over €250 million until 2030 to make the high-performance open-source platform more widely available for organizations.
As CEO Frank Karlitschek notes, "Europe can't wait" for governments to take action on digital sovereignty. Instead, the private sector must lead the charge in a bottom-up approach. By investing in research and development, product innovations, partner enablement, public education, and community projects, Nextcloud aims to empower organizations to take control of their data and technology.
The "Sovereignty 2030" program focuses on three key areas:
People and Brain Power
Nextcloud plans to expand its global workforce seven-fold over the next five years, setting a new standard in collaboration technology. The company will introduce key security and compliance innovations, invest in further AI research programs, and develop new features that improve team productivity.
Sovereign Ecosystem
Nextcloud aims to strengthen existing partnerships and expand its global partner ecosystem to create an industry-wide movement promoting sovereign IT solutions. As a founding member of the EuroStack Foundation, Nextcloud is committed to taking action on digital sovereignty.
Educate and Inform
The company will collaborate with partners and civil society organizations to educate the public about privacy, security, and digital sovereignty. Nextcloud will also augment its leading role in the open-source community, advocating for transparency, open standards, and open code.
Empower the Community
Nextcloud will support the wider open-source community by providing resources, coaching, training, documentation, and travel support. This initiative aims to bring together contributors from around the world to create innovative solutions for digital sovereignty, decentralization, and federation.
With Nextcloud's mobile app development capabilities, users can edit and share documents, chat, hold video conferences, manage emails, contacts, and calendars via easy-to-use web and mobile apps. Thousands of organizations across Europe and beyond rely on Nextcloud, joining millions of individual users worldwide.
As Karlitschek notes, "Since the beginning of the year, interest in Nextcloud has tripled." Potential customers are increasingly concerned about dependency on big tech, recognizing that sovereign alternatives are not only possible but already available with Nextcloud.
Founded in 2016, Nextcloud has developed its software from an enterprise file sync and share solution to a comprehensive collaboration platform. The company's open-source software is modular, allowing it to be extended with hundreds of apps. With a strong focus on research and development, Nextcloud has grown organically without venture capital or external funding.
Nextcloud aims to achieve this growth while remaining profitable, headquartered in Germany, and fully employee-owned since its inception.