Javelin Strategy & Research

What Javelin Strategy & Research does

Javelin Strategy & Research is a privately-held B2B research and advisory firm founded in 1998 and operating as a strategic business unit of Escalent, Inc. The firm serves financial institutions, payments companies, technology providers, fintechs, brokerages, insurers, and government agencies, organized around four practice areas: Digital Banking, Payments, Fraud & Security, and Wealth Management. Its flagship product is the annual Identity Fraud Study, now in its 23rd edition, backed by proprietary consumer survey panels of 5,000–11,000+ U.S. adults and longitudinal trend data spanning more than two decades.

The company monetizes through a multi-stream revenue model: annual subscription advisory services providing access to the full research library and scorecard portfolio; consulting and custom research engagements; individual report sales; and event/webinar sponsorships. Its product surface extends beyond subscriptions into recurring scorecard reports benchmarking 20–25 top U.S. financial institutions across mobile banking, online banking, fraud management, and digital issuance, alongside the PaymentsJournal content platform (podcasts, webinars, articles) and whitepapers, often co-sponsored by industry partners such as Mastercard, TransUnion, Fiserv, and Plaid.

Operationally, Javelin is sales-led, with distribution via direct enterprise sales, analyst briefings, the PaymentsJournal content funnel, and industry event presence at conferences including CBA Live, Money20/20, and Smarter Faster Payments. The firm is headquartered in Livonia, Michigan (with a Pleasanton, California reference in firmographic data), and operates within Escalent, which acquired Mercator Advisory Group in March 2022 and folded its team into Javelin to deepen payments coverage.

Name

Javelin Strategy & Research

Legal name

Javelin Strategy & Research, a business unit of Escalent, Inc.

Website

https://javelinstrategy.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Javelin Strategy & Research is a B2B advisory firm providing subscription research, scorecard benchmarking, and consulting to banks, payments companies, fintechs, and government agencies across digital banking, payments, fraud, and wealth management.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Financial Services Research & Advisory

NAICS

Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (54191), Management Consulting Services (54161)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Industry & Sector Research (Syndicated/Custom) (BPAHALAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Strategy & Thematic Research (FSACAGAG), Due Diligence & Investigative Research (BPAHALAI)

Keywords

• Financial services research
• Digital banking advisory
• Payments intelligence
• Fraud management research
• Wealth management advisory

Headquarters

HQ city

Pleasanton

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Annual Research Subscriptions: Annual subscription model providing access to Javelin's full research library, scorecard reports, whitepapers, and advisory services. Subscribers include financial institutions, payments companies, and technology providers seeking industry intelligence.
2. Consulting and Custom Research: Custom research engagements, consulting services, and bespoke advisory projects for clients seeking targeted analysis and strategic guidance on specific market segments or business challenges.
3. Report Sales: Individual report purchases for specific trend reports, scorecards, and whitepapers outside of full subscription access.
4. Event Sponsorships: Sponsored research studies, webinar sponsorships, and branded content partnerships with financial technology vendors and service providers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Javelin Strategy & Research provides subscription-based research, advisory, and consulting services to financial institutions, payments companies, technology providers, fintechs, brokerages, insurers, and government agencies. It produces annual flagship studies (notably the Identity Fraud Study), benchmarking scorecards, whitepapers, annual trends reports, and custom research engagements across digital banking, payments, fraud & security, and wealth management practice areas. The PaymentsJournal platform extends its research into podcasts, webinars, and editorial coverage of the payments industry.

Product overview

Javelin Strategy & Research operates as a research and advisory firm providing strategic insights to financial institutions, payments companies, technology providers, fintechs, brokerages, insurers, and government agencies. The company is organized around four core practice areas—Digital Banking, Payments, Fraud & Security, and Wealth Management—delivering products through a combination of annual subscription advisory services, published scorecard reports, whitepapers, and the PaymentsJournal publication platform. The flagship Identity Fraud Study represents the company's landmark annual publication, while recurring Scorecard Reports benchmark vendor performance across banking, payments, and security categories.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• PaymentsJournal: A platform for payments industry insights, podcasts, and news coverage operated by Javelin Strategy & Research.
• Identity Fraud Study

Quantifiable outcome

• Javelin's annual Identity Fraud Study has tracked fraud trends for 23 consecutive years, providing longitudinal data that enables pattern recognition and trend forecasting.
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Mercator Advisory GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 March 2022Escalent announced the acquisition of Mercator Advisory Group, a research firm serving the global payments industry. Mercator's team joined Javelin Strategy & Research to support clients with industry-leading analytics and expand Escalent's payments expertise and financial services insights.
• TransUnionminorOthersSponsor of the 2026 Identity Fraud Study, providing data and industry expertise for Javelin's annual fraud research.
• FiservminorOthersSponsor of the 2026 Identity Fraud Study, contributing industry insights and data for fraud research.
• PlaidminorOthersSponsor of the 2026 Identity Fraud Study, providing data and expertise on identity verification and fraud prevention.
• MastercardminorOthersSponsor of the 2026 Identity Fraud Study and multiple whitepapers including cybersecurity threat intelligence research.
• PaymentsJournalcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerPaymentsJournal is a content platform featuring Javelin research, analyst podcasts, and industry coverage across payments, fraud, and financial technology. The platform distributes Javelin's thought leadership content and extends market reach.
• Escalent GroupcoreOthersJavelin Strategy & Research is a business unit of Escalent, Inc. (formerly known as Market Strategies International-Morpace). Escalent is the parent company providing corporate infrastructure and strategic direction.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Forrester Research: Public B2B research and advisory firm with a dedicated Financial Services practice covering banking, payments, and insurance. Closely comparable subscription/consulting model and analyst-led go-to-market.
• Insider Intelligence (eMarketer): Research firm covering digital banking, payments, fintech, and consumer financial behavior with a subscription model and scorecard-style benchmarking — directly comparable audience and product set.
• Celent (Oliver Wyman): Research and advisory firm focused exclusively on financial services, covering banking, payments, wealth, and risk — nearly identical coverage map to Javelin and competing directly for the same enterprise buyers.
• Mercator Advisory Group: Payments-industry research firm acquired by Escalent in 2022 and integrated into Javelin; remains a directly comparable research brand in the U.S. payments intelligence category.
• Datos Insights (formerly Aite-Novarica Group): Financial services research and advisory firm covering banking, payments, fraud, and wealth management with an analyst-led, subscription-plus-consulting model that mirrors Javelin's.

Broad incumbents

• KPMG Financial Services Advisory: Big Four advisory practice with deep financial services consulting and industry research; competes with Javelin for strategic advisory engagements with large banks and insurers, especially on digital transformation and risk.
• IDC Financial Insights: Division of IDC covering retail banking, payments, and capital markets research. Overlaps Javelin in financial services benchmarking but offers IT-vendor coverage at significantly greater scale.
• 451 Research (S&P Global Market Intelligence): Enterprise technology research arm of S&P Global with coverage of financial services technology, fintech, and security. Comparable subscription/benchmarking model serving overlapping institutional buyers.
• Gartner: Largest global research and advisory firm with a Financial Services research practice; competes with Javelin for senior technology and strategy buyer budgets but from a much broader IT portfolio.

Emerging players

• Cornerstone Advisors: Boutique advisory firm focused on U.S. banking and credit unions, producing research and benchmarking reports — overlapping Javelin's community-bank and digital-banking coverage at a smaller scale.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/javelin-strategy-&-research
• Xx.com/JavelinStrategy

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Javelin Strategy & Research