What Gravic does

Gravic, Inc. is a privately held software company founded in 1979 and headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania. It operates two core product lines: Remark Software, an optical mark recognition (OMR) data collection suite that digitizes paper 'fill-in-the-bubble' forms and web-based surveys, and Shadowbase Software, an enterprise-grade real-time data replication platform supporting active/passive disaster recovery, active/active business continuity, and zero-downtime database migrations. The company also operates Gravic Labs, an R&D and IP-licensing division holding over 80 patents, and Remark Innovations Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary focused on election security.

The technology stack is built on proprietary pattern recognition algorithms (PATREC) underlying OCR, ICR, and OMR, and on the Shadowbase replication engine, which handles bidirectional replication, collision avoidance, transaction integrity, and constraint resolution across heterogeneous databases. Shadowbase is deployed globally under the HPE Shadowbase brand through a strategic channel partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, giving the product access to HPE's enterprise sales and NonStop support infrastructure. Gravic Labs also pursues non-core research including an Astronomy Group focused on telescope and instrumentation development.

Gravic's revenue model is based on one-time software licenses for the Remark and Shadowbase suites, supplemented by OEM royalty arrangements for its PATREC pattern recognition technology. Go-to-market combines direct sales, an international reseller channel that distributes Remark in over 130 countries, and the HPE global channel for Shadowbase. The company serves over 100,000 customers across financial services, education (K-12 and higher education), government, healthcare, utilities, retail, transportation, and telecom. It is family-controlled by the Holenstein family, with Dr. Bruce Holenstein serving as President & CEO and Paul Holenstein as EVP & Chief Technologist, and has never raised external funding or pursued an IPO.

Name

Gravic

Legal name

Gravic, Inc.

Website

https://gravic.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1979

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Gravic is a privately held software company providing enterprise real-time data replication (Shadowbase) and optical mark recognition data collection (Remark), serving over 100,000 customers across 130+ countries in financial services, education, government, and healthcare.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Enterprise Database Replication and Data Collection Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Compliance, GRC Workflow & Audit Automation Platforms (HDAEAHAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) Platforms (BPAEAPAA)

Keywords

• Optical mark recognition
• Database replication software
• Enterprise data synchronization
• Disaster recovery solutions
• Pattern recognition algorithms

Headquarters

HQ city

Malvern

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Software Licenses: Gravic generates revenue through sale of software licenses for its Remark and Shadowbase product lines. The company offers products to over 100,000 customers and tens of thousands of OEM end-user licensees globally.
2. OEM End-User Licenses: Revenue from OEM licensing arrangements where manufacturers embed Gravic's technologies (particularly PATREC pattern recognition) into their products.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Gravic develops and sells two core enterprise software product lines: the Remark Software Suite, which uses optical mark recognition (OMR) and web-form technology to collect data from paper bubble forms and online surveys, and the Shadowbase Software Suite, which performs real-time data replication, disaster recovery, active/active business continuity, and zero-downtime database migrations. Revenue is generated primarily through one-time software licenses, OEM/royalty licensing of its PATREC pattern recognition technology, and channel sales via HPE and international resellers. The company also operates the Gravic Labs R&D and IP-licensing division and the Remark Innovations election-security subsidiary.

Product overview

Gravic offers a portfolio of enterprise software products organized into two core product lines: the Remark Software Suite for data collection using optical mark recognition (OMR) technology, and the Shadowbase Software Suite for real-time data replication and business continuity. The company operates through Gravic Labs (R&D and IP licensing) and Remark Innovations (election security subsidiary). All products are developed and delivered as traditional licensed software, with no SaaS or API offerings.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Remark Office OMR: Optical mark recognition software for paper forms and surveys
• Remark Web Survey
• Remark Classic OMR
• HPE Shadowbase

Products and services

• Remark Software Suite Data collection software that uses optical mark recognition (OMR) and web-form technology to capture data from paper bubble forms and online surveys; used by universities, K-12 schools, governments, healthcare organizations, corporations, and non-profits.
• Shadowbase Software Suite Mission-critical enterprise database replication software providing real-time data distribution to target databases and applications; includes active/passive disaster recovery, active/active business continuity, data warehouse feeding, real-time BI, and zero application downtime migrations (ZDMs) for enterprises in financial services, healthcare, government, utilities, retail, transportation, and telecom.
• PATREC Pattern Recognition Algorithms (via Gravic Labs) General-purpose pattern recognition algorithms available for OEM licensing, supporting OCR, ICR, and custom recognition use cases; integrated by third-party OEMs into TV commercial recognition, character-recognition tablets and scanners, OCR readers, and OMR software.
• Remark Innovations Inc. (Election Security Solutions) Wholly-owned Gravic subsidiary that delivers secure balloting and election-security systems combining Remark OMR data capture with Shadowbase high-availability and data-security replication technology for government election use cases.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 130 countries served by Remark software products
• +1 more outcomes

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorHPE serves as a strategic channel partner, reselling Gravic's Shadowbase software products globally under the HPE Shadowbase brand name. This partnership extends Gravic's market reach to HPE's enterprise customer base worldwide, providing Shadowbase solutions through HPE's established sales channels and support infrastructure.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Quest Software: Provides SharePlex and other database replication tools for cross-platform data movement and high-availability. Direct competitor to Gravic's Shadowbase in the enterprise database replication space, serving similar mission-critical workloads.
• Precisely: Provides data integrity, replication, and CDC solutions (formerly Syncsort) including Connect CDC. Direct competitor to Shadowbase for enterprise data replication serving regulated industries and mission-critical databases.
• Actian: Provides data integration, replication, and hybrid cloud data management with the Connect product family. Direct competitor to Shadowbase in enterprise data replication and CDC for mission-critical databases.
• Scantron: Provider of OMR scanning hardware and software for education, assessment, and survey data collection. Direct peer to Gravic's Remark Software Suite in the optical mark recognition and form data collection market.

Broad incumbents

• Oracle: Oracle GoldenGate is a leading enterprise data replication and real-time data integration platform. Broad incumbent with overlapping replication capabilities as part of wider database/enterprise software portfolio serving similar mission-critical customers.
• IBM: IBM InfoSphere Data Replication and related products offer real-time data replication for mission-critical enterprise workloads across mainframe and distributed systems. Broad incumbent with deep enterprise penetration in regulated industries.
• Informatica: Enterprise data integration platform with replication, data quality, and master data management capabilities. Broad incumbent serving Fortune 500 customers across regulated industries with overlapping data integration functionality.

Emerging players

• Striim: Real-time data integration and replication platform with streaming analytics, CDC, and cloud-native delivery. Competes with Shadowbase in data replication and zero-downtime migration with a more modern cloud-friendly architecture.
• Fivetran: Cloud-native automated data movement platform; acquired HVR Software to add CDC capabilities. Emerging cloud-native competitor representing the architectural alternative to traditional licensed replication tools like Shadowbase.
• Confluent: Cloud-native streaming data platform built on Apache Kafka for real-time data pipelines and change data capture. Represents the cloud-native, event-streaming alternative to traditional replication tools serving similar use cases.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Subsidiaries4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Gravic