Census
Census is a reverse ETL and data activation platform that moves data from cloud data warehouses into 150+ operational business tools. Acquired by Fivetran in May 2025 and rebranded as Fivetran Activations, it serves enterprise data teams and marketing operations.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2018
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
Census firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Census
- Legal name
- Census
- Website
- https://getcensus.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2018
- Operating status
- Acquired
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- Census is a reverse ETL and data activation platform that moves data from cloud data warehouses into 150+ operational business tools. Acquired by Fivetran in May 2025 and rebranded as Fivetran Activations, it serves enterprise data teams and marketing operations.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Census industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Data Integration & Activation
- NAICS
- Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation (7374)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Data Integration, ETL/ELT & Reverse ETL (BPAMAOAI)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Data Engineering, Integration & ETL/ELT Services (BPAEAHAB), Batch ETL/ELT Platforms (HDAEACAA)
Keywords
Where Census is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Census business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Subscription - Free Tier: Free plan available with basic functionality, no credit card required, allowing users to explore the platform
- Consumption-Based Subscription: Standard tier uses Monthly Active Row (MAR) consumption model, charging based on data rows activated. Post-Fivetran acquisition pricing structure.
- Enterprise Subscription: Custom-quoted enterprise and Business Critical tiers for large organizations with advanced governance, security, and support needs
- Embedded Integrations: White-label or embedded data activation capabilities for partners like SoundCommerce, enabling data teams to offer Census functionality within their platforms
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free plan with basic functionality |
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | Consumption-based Standard tier |
| Subscription | Annual | Enterprise tier with advanced features |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Business Critical tier for large organizations |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels5 records
Census product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Census (now Fivetran Activations) is a reverse ETL (Extract, Load, Transform) platform that moves data from cloud data warehouses such as Snowflake, BigQuery, and Databricks into operational business tools including CRM, marketing automation, and customer support platforms. The platform enables data teams to activate warehouse data across an organization's business tools in real time, eliminating the need for custom-built integrations.
Product overview
Census was acquired by Fivetran in May 2025 and rebranded as Fivetran Activations. The product is a reverse ETL (Reverse Extract, Transform, Load) platform that enables data activation by moving data from cloud data warehouses into operational business tools. The offering operates as part of Fivetran's broader end-to-end data movement platform, which spans data ingestion, transformation, governance, and activation. Census/Fivetran Activations specializes in the final stage of the data pipeline—delivering curated, transformed data from the warehouse to downstream business systems for operational use cases.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Census (now Fivetran Activations) A reverse ETL and data activation platform that enables enterprises to move governed, real-time data from cloud data warehouses into operational business tools such as CRM, marketing automation, customer support, and analytics platforms. Acquired by Fivetran in May 2025 and now marketed as Fivetran Activations.
- Census Embedded An embedded and white-label deployment of the Census data activation platform that allows partners such as SoundCommerce to offer Census functionality within their own data platforms, reaching customers through partner distribution channels.
Quantifiable outcome
- Accelerated client onboarding 120x and reduced costs with scalable, AI-ready data lake (Tinuiti case)
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Census
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Census technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Census partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.
- FivetranflagshipFivetran acquired Census in May 2025 for approximately $630M valuation, rebranding it as Fivetran Activations. The acquisition combined Census's reverse ETL capabilities with Fivetran's data integration platform to create the first end-to-end data movement platform for the AI era.
- dbt LabsflagshipCensus was marketed as 'the most trusted dbt Reverse ETL Integration', with deep compatibility with dbt (data build tool) for transformation workflows. This partnership enabled data teams using dbt to easily activate transformed data to business tools.
- SnowflakeflagshipCensus was recognized as a leader in Snowflake's Modern Marketing Data Stack Report, indicating deep technical integration and partnership within the Snowflake ecosystem. The partnership enables Census to serve Snowflake customers as a trusted data activation layer.
- SoundCommercecoreCensus Embedded was integrated within SoundCommerce's Data Platform, enabling joint customers like PacSun to unify, model, and activate data through the combined platform. This partnership allows Census to reach customers via SoundCommerce's retail and e-commerce focused platform.
- FulcrumcoreCensus acquired Fulcrum to enhance its data collaboration platform and expand AI-driven customer segmentation capabilities. The integration aimed to improve data activation, personalization, and real-time data operations for enterprise clients.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Census competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- RudderStack: RudderStack is a customer data platform with native reverse-ETL capabilities, directly competing with Census on warehouse-to-operational data activation for marketing and growth use cases.
- Hightouch: Hightouch is the leading direct competitor in the reverse ETL / data activation space, syncing warehouse data into 150+ operational tools for marketing, sales, and customer success teams — essentially the same product category and target customer as Census.
Broad incumbents
- dbt Labs: dbt Labs, now merged with Fivetran, is the standard for data transformation in the warehouse; it overlaps with Census's transformation-and-activation workflow and competes for the data team's workflow budget.
- Fivetran: Fivetran is now Census's parent company and the leading managed ELT/data ingestion platform; it competes broadly with Census in the modern data stack and now bundles Activations into its end-to-end data movement offering.
- Twilio Segment: Twilio Segment is a customer data platform that ingests and routes customer event data; it overlaps with Census's activation and audience-syncing use cases, particularly for marketing and growth teams.
- Matillion: Matillion is an established cloud-native ETL/ELT platform that overlaps with Census in the data pipeline and activation layer, particularly for enterprise data teams operating in Snowflake and similar warehouses.
Emerging players
- Integrate.io: Integrate.io (formerly Xplenty) provides ETL, ELT, and reverse-ETL capabilities as a managed platform, competing with Census for data team budgets focused on moving data between warehouses and operational systems.
- Airbyte: Airbyte is an open-source data integration platform expanding from ELT ingestion toward reverse ETL and data activation, making it a direct emerging competitor in the same category as Census.
- Hevo Data: Hevo is a no-code data integration and pipeline platform that supports reverse-ETL-style activation from warehouses to operational tools, competing with Census on data movement and activation for mid-market customers.
Others
- Snowflake: Snowflake is both Census's flagship warehouse partner and a potential competitor as it expands native data sharing and marketplace capabilities; it is the foundational infrastructure on which Census's reverse ETL workflows run.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Census social profiles
Digital presenceCensus financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Census leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles6 records
Census subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
Census funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds3 records
Investors8 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Census M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Census
What does Census do?
Census (now Fivetran Activations) is a reverse ETL (Extract, Load, Transform) platform that moves data from cloud data warehouses such as Snowflake, BigQuery, and Databricks into operational business tools including CRM, marketing automation, and customer support platforms. The platform enables data teams to activate warehouse data across an organization's business tools in real time, eliminating the need for custom-built integrations.
Is Census a public or private company?
Census is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently acquired.
When was Census founded?
Census was founded in 2018. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Census based?
Census is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Census make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Subscription - Free Tier is the primary driver. The others are consumption-Based Subscription, enterprise Subscription and embedded Integrations.
Who are Census's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are RudderStack and Hightouch. Broad incumbents are dbt Labs, Fivetran, Twilio Segment and Matillion. Emerging players are Integrate.io, Airbyte and Hevo Data. Snowflake is listed as an others.
Does Census have an API?
Yes. Fivetran (parent company of Census/Fivetran Activations) provides a REST API for data pipeline management. The API enables developers to programmatically manage connectors, transformations, destinations, and data operations. The API reference is publicly available at the documented URL. Developer documentation is at fivetran.com/docs/rest-api.
What industry is Census in?
Census's product category is Data Integration & Activation. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAOAI, Data Integration, ETL/ELT & Reverse ETL, with a secondary code of BPAEAHAB, Data Engineering, Integration & ETL/ELT Services. Its NAICS code is 51821 and its SIC code is 7370.