Earnest Research
Earnest Research (operating as Earnest Analytics) is a New York-based alternative-data provider that aggregates 180M+ consumer spending accounts across 12 datasets for institutional investors, corporations, and consultants via subscription access to its Dash analytics platform.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2012
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Earnest Research does
Earnest Research (operating as Earnest Analytics) is a New York-based alternative-data provider founded in 2012 that aggregates consumer spending signals from 180M+ accounts across 12 datasets — including credit card, debit card, consumer goods, web pricing, demographic, homebuilder, auto reseller, medical procedure, prescription drug, and location data — and delivers them to institutional investors, corporations, and consultants. Its core technology is the proprietary "Earnest AI" machine learning methodology, which normalizes raw transaction feeds to suppress noise from outliers and churn, then layers analyst-driven validation against reported results to produce signals with a claimed 1-day minimum transaction lag and 90% revenue-surprise accuracy. Insights are delivered through two products: the broader Earnest Analytics Platform and the self-serve Dash analytics portal, which supports row-level cohort construction (e.g., by brand preference, income, and home location) for revenue forecasting, customer retention analysis, and competitive benchmarking. The company operates a hybrid go-to-market combining enterprise field sales targeting hedge funds, private equity, and corporate strategy/finance/IR teams with a product-led growth motion via Dash's free trial signup; pricing is not publicly disclosed but is structured as recurring subscriptions. In 2024, Earnest was acquired by Consumer Edge, under which brand it continues to operate, and now sits within a combined consumer-insights offering.
Earnest Research firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Earnest Research
- Legal name
- Earnest Analytics
- Website
- https://earnestresearch.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2012
- Operating status
- Acquired
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- Earnest Research (operating as Earnest Analytics) is a New York-based alternative-data provider that aggregates 180M+ consumer spending accounts across 12 datasets for institutional investors, corporations, and consultants via subscription access to its Dash analytics platform.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Earnest Research industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Alternative Data Analytics
- NAICS
- Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910), Marketing Consulting Services (541613), Software Publishers (5132)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Investment Advice (6282)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Syndicated Market Research (Panels, Omnibus, Tracker Studies) (MPAAALAB)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Investor Education, Research & Portfolio Analytics Services (Retail) (FSAAAAAO), Marketing Analytics & Measurement Strategy (Attribution, MMM, KPIs) (MPAAAFAH)
Keywords
Where Earnest Research is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Earnest Research business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Supply Chain
Revenue model
- Alternative Data Subscriptions: Subscription-based access to alternative data products including credit card data, debit card data, consumer goods data, web pricing data, demographic data, homebuilder data, auto reseller data, medical procedure data, prescription drug data, and location data. Delivered through the Dash analytics platform with varying levels of access and support.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free trial available with signup |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels5 records
Earnest Research product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Earnest Research operates an alternative data and analytics platform that ingests, normalizes, and analyzes large-scale consumer transaction datasets (credit card, debit card, consumer goods, web pricing, demographic, homebuilder, auto reseller, medical procedure, prescription drug, and location data) covering more than 180 million accounts. Its proprietary Earnest AI machine learning methodology, combined with an analyst validation layer, extracts reliable signals from raw data to deliver revenue predictions, customer cohort analysis, and competitive benchmarking for institutional investors, corporate strategy and consumer-insights teams, and consultants through the self-serve Dash analytics platform.
Product overview
Earnest Analytics is a unified alternative data platform that provides consumer spending and behavioral insights to investors (Long/Short, Long Only, Quantitative, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Healthcare funds), companies (Strategy, Consumer Insights, Marketers, Finance, Investor Relations, Data Teams, Corporate Development), and consultants. The core Earnest Analytics Platform aggregates and normalizes data from multiple sources including credit card transactions, debit card data, consumer goods purchases, web pricing, demographic data, homebuilder data, auto reseller transactions, medical procedures, prescription drugs, and location data. The proprietary Earnest AI machine learning methodology transforms raw data to eliminate noise and outliers, while analyst validation layers business context on top of clean data. Insights are delivered through the Dash Analytics Platform, which enables users to access, visualize, and analyze the data for revenue forecasting, customer retention analysis, competitive benchmarking, and market trend identification.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Earnest Analytics Platform An alternative data platform that aggregates and normalizes consumer spending data from multiple sources (credit/debit cards, consumer goods, web pricing, demographics, homebuilder, auto reseller, medical, prescription, and location data) to deliver revenue predictions, customer tracking, and competitive benchmarking insights for investors, companies, and consultants.
- Dash Analytics Platform Earnest's proprietary curated analytics platform that accelerates speed to insight by distilling terabytes of alternative data into actionable takeaways; enables users to access normalized data, create custom cohorts, and generate insights through a self-service interface.
Quantifiable outcome
- 90% revenue surprise accuracy
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Earnest Research
Customer profileNamed customers12 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Earnest Research technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability3 records
Feature4 records
Earnest Research partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Consumer EdgeflagshipEarnest Analytics has joined Consumer Edge, combining strengths to deliver even deeper, broader, and faster consumer insights. This acquisition brings together Earnest's alternative data capabilities with Consumer Edge's existing platform to create a more comprehensive consumer insights offering.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Earnest Research competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Bloomberg Second Measure: Bloomberg-owned alternative data provider that sells card transaction panel data and consumer spending analytics to investors and corporates; the closest direct competitor to Earnest's core card- and consumer-spend datasets, now with the distribution advantage of Bloomberg's terminal.
- YipitData: Alternative data platform aggregating transaction-level data (app, web, payments) for hedge funds, mutual funds, and corporates; directly comparable in product surface area, target customer (institutional investors), and use cases (revenue tracking, cohort analysis).
- Placer.ai: Location-data alternative data provider serving retail, real estate, and investor clients with foot-traffic analytics; directly comparable as an alternative data vendor to investors and corporate strategy teams, overlapping in Earnest's location and homebuilder data categories.
- Similarweb: Public alternative data and digital intelligence company selling web traffic, app usage, and consumer engagement data to investors and corporates; directly comparable in serving the same institutional investor and corporate strategy use cases that Earnest addresses.
- Consumer Edge: Now the parent company of Earnest Analytics, Consumer Edge is an alternative data provider of consumer transaction data and brand-level insights to investors and brands; directly comparable in dataset type (consumer spending) and customer base, and a key reference for evaluating the combined entity.
- Edison Trends: Email-receipt-based alternative data provider covering e-commerce and consumer spending; directly comparable as a transaction-data alternative data vendor to investors and corporates, with overlapping use cases in revenue estimation and category tracking.
- 1010data: Alternative and alternative-data analytics platform serving institutional investors and retailers with large-scale consumer transaction datasets and analytics; directly comparable in providing consumer spending intelligence to investors and large retail/CPG customers.
Broad incumbents
- NielsenIQ: Established consumer measurement and consumer insights incumbent offering panels, retail measurement, and CPG analytics; broadly competes with Earnest's consumer goods and retail benchmarking use cases from a much larger enterprise position.
- Circana (formerly IRI): Large consumer insights and market research firm specializing in CPG, retail, and media measurement; broadly competes with Earnest's CPG/retail benchmarking and consumer-goods data offerings, though from a legacy panel-and-survey base rather than transaction data.
- Kantar: Global market research and consumer insights incumbent covering brand, media, and shopper research; broadly comparable to Earnest's corporate-side customer insights, consumer goods data, and competitive benchmarking use cases, with much greater global footprint.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Earnest Research social profiles
Digital presenceEarnest Research financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Earnest Research leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles7 records
Earnest Research funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors7 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Earnest Research 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 Earnest Research
What does Earnest Research do?
Earnest Research operates an alternative data and analytics platform that ingests, normalizes, and analyzes large-scale consumer transaction datasets (credit card, debit card, consumer goods, web pricing, demographic, homebuilder, auto reseller, medical procedure, prescription drug, and location data) covering more than 180 million accounts. Its proprietary Earnest AI machine learning methodology, combined with an analyst validation layer, extracts reliable signals from raw data to deliver revenue predictions, customer cohort analysis, and competitive benchmarking for institutional investors, corporate strategy and consumer-insights teams, and consultants through the self-serve Dash analytics platform.
Is Earnest Research a public or private company?
Earnest Research is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently acquired.
When was Earnest Research founded?
Earnest Research was founded in 2012. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Earnest Research based?
Earnest Research is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does Earnest Research make money?
One revenue line is on record: alternative Data Subscriptions.
Who are Earnest Research's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Bloomberg Second Measure, YipitData, Placer.ai, Similarweb, Consumer Edge, Edison Trends and 1010data. Broad incumbents are NielsenIQ, Circana (formerly IRI) and Kantar.
Does Earnest Research have an API?
No public API is recorded for Earnest Research.
What industry is Earnest Research in?
Earnest Research's product category is Alternative Data Analytics. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAAALAB, Syndicated Market Research (Panels, Omnibus, Tracker Studies), with a secondary code of FSAAAAAO, Investor Education, Research & Portfolio Analytics Services (Retail). Its NAICS code is 541910 and its SIC code is 7372.