Italy's Underdogs Group buys AI trend forecaster Nextatlas to build out MadTech stack
What's the deal? Italian marketing and data technology group Underdogs GroupDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has acquired NextatlasDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, an AI-driven trend forecasting platform, for an undisclosed sum. The deal, announced in November, folds Nextatlas's predictive models into Underdogs's integrated marketing, advertising and data technology — or MadTech — offering.
What does Nextatlas do? Founded in Turin in 2012 by brothers Luca and Alessio Morena, Nextatlas analyses real-time content from more than 300,000 early adopters. Its proprietary AI and research team turn those cultural signals into forecasts that fashion, beauty, and food and beverage brands use to anticipate how consumer behaviour will shift.
What's the endgame? Underdogs wants to connect consumer foresight with campaign execution, giving B2B clients projects grounded in real-time predictive insight. In return, Nextatlas gains the scale and infrastructure to accelerate its growth.
Why now? Trend forecasting is shifting from static, outsourced reports into a function embedded in business processes. "Foresight is moving out of reports and dashboards and into the decisions companies make every day," the Morena brothers said, pointing to AI agents that query the data daily rather than once a quarter.
Why it matters: The acquisition follows Underdogs's €20 million funding round in September, led by Nextalia Ventures, which backed a European buy-and-build strategy across marketing, advertising and data technology. Nextatlas is an early piece of that plan.
What could go wrong? The price was undisclosed, and the claimed client synergies and growth remain to be demonstrated. For Underdogs, the significance is strategic rather than a disclosed scale-changing transaction.
The signal: The deal fits a wider pattern of groups combining data, AI and execution through acquisitions. France's DekupleDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → recently took a majority stake in Italian agency SAY to expand its integrated data-marketing offer — a sign that consolidation across European MadTech is picking up.
Read more: corrierenazionale.it
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
