Profound
Profound, a service of MarketResearch.com, LLC, is a market research aggregation platform that lets corporate and academic buyers search, browse, and purchase reports from 219 publishers across 700 industry segments, with unique sectional pricing by chapter, table, or chart.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1998
- HeadquartersRockville, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What Profound does
Profound is a market research aggregation and distribution service operated by MarketResearch.com, LLC, a privately-held company. The platform enables corporate, academic, and institutional users to search, browse, and purchase market research reports from a catalog of over 1.39 million documents sourced from 219 publishers across nearly 700 industry segments, with 12,500 new reports added monthly. Its distinguishing technical capability is report-slicing technology that allows buyers to purchase individual chapters, sections, tables, or charts rather than full reports, supplemented since November 2023 by AI-Powered Search (natural language query) and since May 2024 by a 'Top Matching Sections' feature that ranks the most relevant sliced sections from the last three years.
The business combines self-serve e-commerce with enterprise field sales. Revenue mechanics span one-time report purchases (single-user license), higher-value corporate-wide (global site) licenses that permit internal intranet distribution, sectional pay-as-you-go pricing where publishers allow it, and recurring subscriptions — most visibly through the MarketResearch.com Academic sub-brand priced per student equivalent. Customer engagement is supported by a US-based Training and Applications Consultant team plus a UK office covering EMEA and Asia, with named Strategic Account Managers and Senior Global Account Managers handling enterprise relationships.
The company operates as a subsidiary brand of MarketResearch.com, which positions itself as the world's largest continuously updated collection of market research (more than 900,000 reports from 350+ publishers at the parent level). No funding rounds, M&A activity, or revenue figures are disclosed in the source material. Operational signals (monthly client log-ins, ongoing product releases, multi-region support) indicate a steady-state, mature business rather than a high-velocity growth stage.
Profound firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Profound
- Legal name
- MarketResearch.com, LLC
- Website
- https://profound.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1998
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Profound, a service of MarketResearch.com, LLC, is a market research aggregation platform that lets corporate and academic buyers search, browse, and purchase reports from 219 publishers across 700 industry segments, with unique sectional pricing by chapter, table, or chart.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Profound industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Market Research Aggregation
- NAICS
- Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services (51929), Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (519)
- SIC
- Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Self-Publishing & Author Platforms (BPAMAJAF)
Keywords
Where Profound is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Rockville
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Profound business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Operations, Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Report Sales (Full Reports): Users can purchase complete market research reports from over 219 publishers covering nearly 700 industry segments. Full reports are available as single-user licenses or corporate wide licenses.
- Sectional/Piecemeal Report Sales: Unique ability to purchase individual chapters, sections, tables, or charts from reports. This allows users to stretch their research budget by buying only the specific data they need. Not all publishers allow sectional pricing.
- Corporate Wide License (Site License): Global site license allowing employees to share reports with other authorized users within the organization. Enables distribution on secure corporate intranet. This is a higher-tier license option for organizations.
- Corporate Subscriptions: Subscription pricing based on organizational access. MarketResearch.com Academic provides subscription pricing based on per-student equivalent for colleges and universities.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Full Report Purchase |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Section/Chapter/Table/Chart Purchase |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Single-User License |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Corporate Wide License (Global Site License) |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels6 records
Profound product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Profound is a cloud-based market research aggregation and search platform that consolidates more than 1.39 million PDF research reports from 219 publishers across approximately 700 industry segments. It enables corporate and academic customers to purchase full reports or granular pieces (chapters, sections, tables, or charts) through single-user or corporate-wide licenses, supported by AI-powered search, a professionally administered taxonomy, and a dedicated U.S.-based client service team.
Product overview
Profound is a single, unified market research intelligence platform that aggregates over 1.39 million PDF research reports from 219 publishers into a searchable database. The core Profound platform enables users to purchase complete reports or individual sections (chapters, tables, charts) at granular pricing. It operates as part of the MarketResearch.com portfolio alongside the MarketResearch.com Academic sub-brand for educational institutions. The service includes AI-powered search capabilities, flexible taxonomy-based browsing, and a team of Training and Applications Consultants. The Profound Rundown newsletter provides monthly updates on new publishers, reports, and webinars.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Profound Market Research Platform A cloud-based aggregation and search platform that enables corporate buyers to purchase full market research reports or granular pieces (chapters, sections, tables, or charts) under single-user or corporate-wide licenses. Targets enterprise customers seeking competitive intelligence, market sizing, due diligence, and strategic decision support across multiple industries.
- MarketResearch.com Academic Institutional subscription service that provides colleges, universities, and government-affiliated libraries with access to MarketResearch.com's aggregated market research collection at per-student equivalent subscription pricing. Integrates into campus-wide networks and supports academic teaching, student projects, and faculty research.
Quantifiable outcome
- $6.15 million average cumulative savings by users every month
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Profound
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Profound technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability2 records
Feature5 records
Profound partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- MarketResearch.comcoreProfound is a service of MarketResearch.com. MarketResearch.com is described as the world's largest and continuously updated collection of market research, offering more than 900,000 market research reports from more than 350 leading global publishers. Profound operates as the corporate-focused interface for MarketResearch.com's content.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Profound competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- GlobalData: GlobalData provides syndicated market research, intelligence, and analytics to enterprises across multiple industries. While GlobalData is also a primary publisher, its platform competes with Profound for enterprise research budgets and offers comparable industry coverage and search capabilities.
- Statista: Statista operates a subscription-based statistics and market data aggregation platform serving corporate and academic users with multi-source content. Like Profound, it packages third-party research into a unified search and download experience with tiered licensing, making it the closest direct comparable by business model and customer base.
- EBSCO: EBSCO is a research database aggregator providing access to journals, e-books, and reports for academic and corporate libraries. Its content aggregation, institutional licensing, and search-driven research workflows parallel Profound's value proposition in adjacent content verticals.
- ProQuest (Clarivate): ProQuest aggregates scholarly journals, dissertations, reports, and primary sources for academic and corporate libraries. Its aggregator role across multiple publishers and its institutional subscription model overlap directly with both Profound's corporate and MarketResearch.com Academic businesses.
- ResearchAndMarkets.com: ResearchAndMarkets.com aggregates and distributes market research reports from hundreds of publishers for corporate buyers. It mirrors Profound's role as a multi-publisher marketplace for syndicated research, competing for the same enterprise research procurement budget.
- Reportlinker: Reportlinker is a market research aggregator that offers catalog access, custom slicing, and report distribution across multiple publishers. Its functional overlap with Profound's discovery, comparison, and purchase workflow makes it a head-to-head competitor in the same aggregator category.
Broad incumbents
- AlphaSense: AlphaSense is Profound's parent company's flagship market intelligence platform for enterprise search across earnings transcripts, broker research, and proprietary content. While it now owns Profound, AlphaSense's premium AI-driven intelligence offering competes in adjacent use cases and shapes Profound's strategic positioning.
- Mintel: Mintel is a major independent market research publisher producing consumer and product intelligence reports. As one of Profound's content providers, Mintel also sells direct subscriptions, competing with Profound's distribution channel for the same corporate research dollars.
- Euromonitor International: Euromonitor publishes syndicated market research across consumer and B2B industries and offers Passport, its flagship intelligence platform. Its subscription research products directly overlap with Profound's offerings and compete for the same enterprise strategy and insights users.
- IBISWorld: IBISWorld publishes industry research and risk reports purchased by corporate and academic users. Its subscription products compete directly with Profound for procurement budgets, particularly in the U.S. enterprise and academic markets.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Profound social profiles
Digital presenceProfound financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Profound leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles8 records
Profound funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Profound M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Profound
What does Profound do?
Profound is a cloud-based market research aggregation and search platform that consolidates more than 1.39 million PDF research reports from 219 publishers across approximately 700 industry segments. It enables corporate and academic customers to purchase full reports or granular pieces (chapters, sections, tables, or charts) through single-user or corporate-wide licenses, supported by AI-powered search, a professionally administered taxonomy, and a dedicated U.S.-based client service team.
Is Profound a public or private company?
Profound is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Profound founded?
Profound was founded in 1998. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Profound based?
Profound is headquartered in Rockville, United States, in the North America region.
How does Profound make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Report Sales (Full Reports) is the primary driver. The others are sectional/Piecemeal Report Sales, corporate Wide License (Site License) and corporate Subscriptions.
Who are Profound's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are GlobalData, Statista, EBSCO, ProQuest (Clarivate), ResearchAndMarkets.com and Reportlinker. Broad incumbents are AlphaSense, Mintel, Euromonitor International and IBISWorld.
Does Profound have an API?
No public API is recorded for Profound.
What industry is Profound in?
Profound's product category is Market Research Aggregation. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAJAF, Self-Publishing & Author Platforms. Its NAICS code is 51929 and its SIC code is 2741.