Cayuse

What Cayuse does

Cayuse is a privately held SaaS company, founded circa 1994 and headquartered in Portland, Oregon, that provides a cloud-native research administration and compliance platform to over 700 research institutions globally. The company operates a modular suite — organized into Award Management, Compliance Management, Vivarium Management, and Technology Transfer — covering the full research lifecycle from funding discovery and proposal submission (Proposals S2S, Sponsored Projects, Fund Finder) through award closeout, financial management (Fund Manager, Project Effort, Agreements, Insights), and regulatory oversight (Human Ethics/IRB, Animal Oversight/IACUC, Hazard Safety/IBC, Outside Interests/COI, Risk & Compliance/Iris). The platform is hosted on AWS, leverages Snowflake for data warehousing and Sigma Computing for analytics, and integrates with federal grant portals (Grants.gov) and institutional ERP/HR/finance systems via system-to-system connectors.

Cayuse generates revenue primarily through annual subscription fees for its modular SaaS platform, supplemented by professional services revenue from implementation, managed services, and the Cayuse Academy training program. Pricing is quote-based and tailored to institution size and module selection, sold exclusively through direct enterprise field sales and inside sales teams — no channel partners or marketplaces are used. Customers include R1 research universities (University of Melbourne, University of Dayton, Texas Tech University, University of Southern Mississippi), healthcare systems (Providence, Rady Children's Hospital, Sinai Chicago), life sciences organizations (La Jolla Institute for Immunology, Whitehead Institute), nonprofit research institutes, and government agencies across North America, the UK, Ireland, the Middle East, and APAC. The company holds SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, and EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework certifications, with FedRAMP pursued as a federal procurement enabler.

The company's corporate structure includes multiple wholly-owned subsidiaries (Cayuse Topco, Cayuse Holdings, Cayuse Intermediate Holdings, ERA Software, NTM Consulting Services, Information Technology Works, iMedRIS Data Corporation), reflecting a roll-up acquisition strategy executed between 2018 and 2021 that has integrated both technology assets and consulting capacity. Leadership includes President and CEO Matt McLellan, CTO Ben Panning, CIO John Nord, CRO Nick Naso, CFO John Starr, and COO Maria Siambekos. Headcount of 101-250 employees and a customer base spanning six verticals (Higher Education, Healthcare, Life Sciences, Nonprofit, Government, International) indicate a mid-market enterprise SaaS company at scale, though no revenue, funding, or ARR figures are publicly disclosed.

Name

Cayuse

Legal name

Cayuse, LLC

Website

https://cayuse.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Cayuse is a cloud-native SaaS platform serving 700+ research institutions globally with modular applications spanning the full research lifecycle — proposal submission, award management, compliance (IRB/IACUC/IBC/COI), vivarium operations, and technology transfer — for universities, healthcare systems, life sciences organizations, nonprofits, and government agencies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Research Administration Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (513210)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Clinical Trial Informatics (EDC/CTMS/eCOA/eTMF) (HLAGAJAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Quality Management & Regulatory Compliance (CLIA/CAP/ISO) for Labs (HLACAMAH), Cloud Compliance, Audit & Continuous Controls Monitoring (CCM/GRC) (HDABAHAI)

Keywords

• Research administration software
• Grant lifecycle management
• Research compliance software
• Award management solutions
• Technology transfer software

Headquarters

HQ city

Portland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Revenue model

1. SaaS Platform Subscriptions: Cayuse operates as a cloud-based SaaS company offering a suite of connected applications for research administration and compliance. Customers pay subscription fees to access the Cayuse Suite covering proposal management, award management, compliance management, vivarium management, and technology transfer. Pricing is quote-based and tailored to institution size and modules selected. The company also generates revenue from professional services including implementation, managed services, and Cayuse Academy training programs.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Cayuse provides a cloud-based research administration software suite that helps universities, academic medical centers, hospitals, life sciences organizations, government agencies, and nonprofits manage the full research lifecycle — including proposal submission, award and grant management, research compliance (IRB, IACUC, COI, IBC), vivarium operations, and technology transfer. The platform is sold as a unified suite with modular subscriptions and is complemented by implementation, managed services, and training offerings.

Product overview

Cayuse offers a comprehensive, cloud-based platform called the Cayuse Suite designed to streamline research administration across the full research lifecycle. The suite is organized into five interconnected solution areas: (1) Cayuse Platform — the central hub connecting all applications with unified task management; (2) Award Management — containing Fund Finder, Proposals (S2S), Sponsored Projects, Fund Manager, Project Effort, Agreements, and Insights for pre- and post-award grant and financial management; (3) Compliance Management — covering Human Ethics (IRB), Animal Oversight (IACUC), Hazard Safety (IBC), Outside Interests (COI), and Cayuse Risk & Compliance for regulatory oversight; (4) Vivarium Management — including Vivarium Operations, Schedules, and Vet Care for animal research facility management; and (5) Technology Transfer — managing inventions and IP licensing. The Report Connector enables data exports to external BI tools. Cayuse serves over 700 global research institutions across higher education, healthcare, life sciences, nonprofit, government, and international markets.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Cayuse Platform

Quantifiable outcome

• University of Northern Iowa reduces time spent on administration by 50%
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers13 records

Segments6 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature12 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core infrastructure, core product and supporting.

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)core infrastructureTechnology or IntegrationAWS serves as Cayuse's primary infrastructure hosting provider. AWS hosts Cayuse's cloud platform in the United States, supporting the company's SaaS delivery of research administration software globally.
• GrantForwardcore productTechnology or IntegrationGrantForward provides the underlying funding opportunity database and matching technology powering Cayuse Fund Finder, enabling automated grant discovery, filtering, and alerts for research institutions.
• WorkRampcore productTechnology or IntegrationWorkRamp provides the Learning Management System (LMS) platform powering Cayuse Academy, the company's free training and certification program for product users.
• Salesforce / PardotsupportingTechnology or IntegrationSalesforce and Pardot are used by Cayuse for CRM data storage and marketing automation, managing user-contacted information and customer relationship management.
• SnowflakesupportingTechnology or IntegrationSnowflake is used by Cayuse for data storage capabilities supporting the platform's analytics and reporting functions.
• Sigma Computingcore productTechnology or IntegrationSigma Computing powers Cayuse's analytics and reporting dashboard (Cayuse Insights), enabling data visualization and business intelligence across the research administration platform.
• PendosupportingTechnology or IntegrationPendo is used by Cayuse for application usage measurement, helping the company understand product usage patterns and customer engagement within the Cayuse platform.
• TwiliosupportingTechnology or IntegrationTwilio handles SMS/text message delivery for Cayuse's transactional and informational text messaging communications to registered users and clients regarding platform updates, support communications, and service announcements.
• GreenhousesupportingTechnology or IntegrationGreenhouse is Cayuse's applicant tracking system used for job applicant management and recruitment workflows globally.
• HireRightsupportingTechnology or IntegrationHireRight provides global background screening services for Cayuse's candidate hiring processes across all markets (US, UK, AU, CA, and others).
• Google Analytics / Google Tag ManagersupportingTechnology or IntegrationGoogle Analytics and Google Tag Manager are used for website analytics, performance measurement, and tag management on cayuse.com.
• Hu-manity Rights, Inc.supportingTechnology or IntegrationHu-manity Rights provides Cayuse's consent management platform (Usercentrics) to manage cookie preferences and data sharing levels on the Cayuse website.

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Huron Research Suite: Huron's research enterprise suite covers pre-award, post-award, and clinical research management for universities and academic medical centers, overlapping directly with Cayuse's Sponsored Projects, IRB, and award management modules.
• Kuali Research: Kuali offers open-source and cloud research administration software for higher education, including proposal, award, and compliance modules, making it one of the closest direct competitors to Cayuse's core modules.
• InfoEd Global: InfoEd Global provides research administration and electronic research administration (eRA) software to universities and hospitals, competing head-on with Cayuse in pre-award, post-award, and compliance management for research institutions.
• Velos eResearch: Velos offers clinical trial management, IRB, and research compliance software to academic medical centers and hospitals, competing with Cayuse in clinical research and compliance workflows.

Emerging players

• BioRAFT (a KEM Company): BioRAFT provides lab safety, biosafety (IBC), and EH&S compliance software for research institutions, directly comparable to Cayuse's Hazard Safety and Outside Interests compliance modules.
• LabArchives: LabArchives offers electronic lab notebooks and research data management for academic and life sciences labs, an adjacent research-administration category where Cayuse's Vivarium and Technology Transfer modules also compete for share of institution budgets.
• Advarra: Advarra provides IRB, IBC, and research compliance technology and services, overlapping with Cayuse's Human Ethics, Hazard Safety, and broader Compliance Management modules for academic and clinical research institutions.
• Florence eBinders: Florence's eBinders platform manages regulatory and compliance documentation for clinical research, overlapping with Cayuse's IRB/IACUC oversight and clinical research compliance modules.

Broad incumbents

• Workday (Grants & Research Modules): Workday's Grants Management and research-related modules, integrated with Workday Financials and HCM, compete with Cayuse by bundling research administration into a broader enterprise cloud suite used by large institutions.
• Oracle Research Administration (formerly PeopleSoft/eRA): Oracle's research administration offerings, evolved from PeopleSoft eRA, target the same higher-ed and federal research market as Cayuse, providing broad-ERP alternatives with native grant and compliance modules.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CayuseLLC
• Facebookfacebook.com/CayuseLLC

Compliance8 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A5 records

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Cayuse