Michael Bauer Research GmbH

What Michael Bauer Research GmbH does

Michael Bauer Research GmbH (MB-Research) is a Nuremberg-based B2B market data company founded in 2004 that produces and distributes internationally comparable market data and digital geographic boundaries for use in geographic information systems (GIS). Its portfolio centers on two interlocking product lines: (1) MB-Research Digital Boundaries — vector-based administrative, postal, and microgeographic boundary layers for 248 countries with over 2,000 geographic levels, delivered in all major GIS formats (ESRI Shapefile, GeoDataBase, MapInfo TAB, GeoJSON, GeoPackage); and (2) a suite of market data products including Purchasing Power (covering 180+ countries down to 100x100m grid cells), Consumer Spending by Product Groups (20 product groups), Consumer Styles segmentation, Daytime Population, Retail Data, Sociodemographics, Europe Regional (NUTS-3 for 41 countries), and Economic and Political Risk Indices. The two product lines are developed in-house to be natively compatible, creating an integrated data asset for customers in geomarketing, site selection, sales territory planning, and risk assessment. The company monetizes through recurring subscription licenses on multi-year contracts plus custom research services delivered through its wholly-owned subsidiary Schütz und Hirsch Research (acquired 2014), serving enterprise and public-sector buyers across retail, automotive, consumer goods, banking, real estate, insurance, telecommunications, healthcare, logistics, media, tourism, capital goods, and public institutions.

The company operates as a privately held German GmbH under founder and Managing Director Michael Bauer alongside co-Managing Director Sabine Petrásek, operating within the broader Michael Bauer Gruppe. Distribution combines a dedicated direct enterprise sales force with partner/reseller channels and an annual presence at the Esri User Conference — the world's largest GIS industry event, where MB-Research will exhibit at booth 624 in San Diego in July 2026. Marketing is conducted through the corporate website, LinkedIn, Instagram, and downloadable product prospectuses, targeting the concentrated buyer base of GIS analysts and location intelligence professionals. Revenue is not publicly disclosed, and the company has no external funding, no public listing, and operates with a small team (11-50 employees).

Name

Michael Bauer Research GmbH

Legal name

Michael Bauer Research GmbH

Website

https://mb-research.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Michael Bauer Research GmbH is a Nuremberg-based B2B market data company that produces internationally comparable purchasing power, consumer spending, sociodemographic, and risk data alongside vector digital boundaries for GIS, serving enterprise and public-sector clients across retail, automotive, banking, and other verticals in 180+ countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Geospatial Market Intelligence

NAICS

Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910), Directory and Mailing List Publishers (513140), Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131)

akta.pro primary industry

Data Distribution, Connectivity & Market Data Platforms (Entitlements, Normalization, APIs) (FSAFAIAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Marketing Database & Contact Data Providers (B2B/B2C Lists) (BPAFAKAF)

Keywords

• Geographic market data
• Digital boundaries
• Purchasing power data
• Geomarketing data
• Sociodemographic data

Headquarters

HQ city

Nürnberg

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Market Data Licensing: MB-Research licenses its market data products (purchasing power, consumer spending, sociodemographics, risk data) to enterprise customers for use in geomarketing, market analysis, site planning, and location intelligence applications. Data is sold as datasets for specific countries or regional packages.
2. Digital Boundaries/GIS Data Licensing: Sale of digital boundary data in various GIS formats (ESRI Shapefile, GeoDataBase, MapInfo TAB, GeoJSON, GeoPackage) for use in geographic information systems. Available as packages per country, continent, or worldwide.
3. Custom Market Research Services: Under the Schütz und Hirsch Research division, the company provides custom quantitative and qualitative market research including international online surveys, CATI analyses, and focus groups, with specialization in combining market data with consumer surveys.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Michael Bauer Research GmbH produces and licenses internationally comparable market data (purchasing power, consumer spending, sociodemographics, retail data, consumer styles, daytime population, and risk indices) together with compatible vector-based digital boundaries for geographic information systems. The datasets cover over 180 countries for market data and 248 countries for digital boundaries across administrative, postal, and microgeographic levels, sold primarily to enterprise users in retail, automotive, consumer goods, banking, real estate, insurance, and the public sector for geomarketing and location intelligence applications.

Product overview

MB-Research is a data intelligence company specializing in internationally comparable market data and compatible digital geographic boundaries. The core offering combines two product lines: (1) MB-Research Digital Boundaries — a global vector-based geographic boundary dataset covering 248 countries across administrative, postal, and microgeographic levels, available in standard GIS formats (ESRI Shapefile, GeoDataBase, MapInfo, GeoJSON, GeoPackage); and (2) a suite of market data products including MB-Research Purchasing Power, MB-Research Consumer Spending by Product Groups, MB-Research Consumer Styles, MB-Research Daytime Population, MB-Research Retail Data, MB-Research Sociodemographics, and MB-Research Europa Regional — all designed to integrate directly with the Digital Boundaries. The portfolio is complemented by risk indicators (MB-Research Economic Risk Index and Political Risk Index) and the acquired brand Schütz und Hirsch Research for custom market research. The company operates globally, serving clients across retail, automotive, consumer goods, banking, real estate, insurance, and public institutions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Europa Regional: Purchasing power and structural data for over 1500 regions in Europe, providing data at NUTS3 level for 41 European countries.
• Europa Regional 2025
• Digitale Grenzen

Products and services

• MB-Research Digital Boundaries (Digitale Grenzen) Vector-based digital map layers covering administrative, postal, and microgeographic boundaries for 248 countries with over 2,000 geographic levels; topologically correct, seamless across neighboring country borders, and designed to integrate directly with MB-Research market data in standard GIS formats.
• MB-Research Purchasing Power Internationally comparable purchasing power data representing the available income of private households, distributed across geographic areas covering more than 180 countries down to the smallest geographical level (including 100x100m grid cells).
• MB-Research Consumer Spending by Product Groups Consumer expenditure data covering 20 different product groups and services, providing consumption-pattern insights by geographic area for enterprise market analysis.
• MB-Research Consumer Styles Uniform and internationally comparable consumer style classifications used for market segmentation and target group definition across countries.
• MB-Research Daytime Population Estimates of daytime population accounting for commuter flows, distinguishing areas by daytime versus nighttime population for trade-area and facility planning.
• MB-Research Retail Data Retail-relevant purchasing power, point-of-sale revenue data, and centrality indicators measuring regional purchasing power retention for retail location analysis.
• MB-Research Sociodemographics Social and demographic data including residential population, gender, age groups, households, unemployment, household composition, income quintiles, education level, and marital status at multiple geographic levels worldwide.
• MB-Research Europa Regional Purchasing power and structural data for over 1,500 regions across 41 European countries at NUTS-3 and comparable levels, including population, purchasing power per capita and total, age groups, gender, average household size, employees, unemployment, GDP, and number of dwellings.
• MB-Research Economic Risk Index Operational risk and market risk indicators at subnational and regional level, determining the probability of two or more severe economic crises occurring within the next ten years.
• MB-Research Political Risk Index Political risk indicators identifying two dimensions of violent and warlike conflicts at regional level, showing the probability of violence and war occurring within a ten-year horizon.
• Schütz und Hirsch Research (custom market research services) Quantitative and qualitative market research services, including international online surveys, CATI analyses, and focus groups, with a focus on combining MB-Research market data and GIS data with consumer surveys for marketing and sales intelligence.

Quantifiable outcome

• Data available for over 180 countries at various geographic levels from country level down to 100x100m grid cells
• +2 more outcomes

Segments13 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature8 records

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• TomTom: TomTom provides maps, navigation data, and location-based content to enterprise and consumer customers worldwide. It is comparable to MB-Research because both specialize in geographic data products and serve enterprise use cases like location intelligence, though TomTom operates at much larger scale and broader scope.
• HERE Technologies: HERE Technologies is a leading location data and mapping platform providing geographic data, maps, and location services to enterprises across automotive, logistics, retail, and telecom. It is comparable to MB-Research as a much larger geographic data provider serving overlapping enterprise verticals with broader platform offerings beyond just market data.
• Esri: Esri is the dominant GIS platform provider through ArcGIS and is one of MB-Research's key commercial partners (MB-Research exhibits at Esri UC). It bundles demographic and market data within a much broader enterprise GIS platform, making it a comparable but much broader incumbent serving many of the same enterprise customers.
• GfK: GfK (now part of NIQ) is a market research and consumer intelligence company providing data on consumer behavior, purchasing power, and retail markets globally. It is comparable to MB-Research because both publish consumer spending and market data products that enterprise retail and consumer goods clients use for strategic planning, though GfK's broader portfolio includes survey-based research.
• Kantar: Kantar is a global market research and data analytics firm providing consumer insights, audience measurement, and market data to enterprise clients. It is comparable to MB-Research because both serve brand owners, retailers, and financial institutions with market intelligence and consumer data products, though Kantar's portfolio spans broader research services.
• NielsenIQ: NielsenIQ is a global consumer intelligence company providing retail measurement, purchasing data, and consumer insights to CPG, retail, and manufacturing clients. It is comparable to MB-Research because both serve retail and consumer goods verticals with market and consumer spending data, though NielsenIQ operates at vastly larger scale with measurement-based offerings.

Emerging players

• CARTO: CARTO is a location intelligence and spatial analytics cloud platform that enables enterprises to visualize and analyze geospatial data. It is comparable to MB-Research because both provide enterprise location intelligence infrastructure, though CARTO focuses on a SaaS/cloud analytics platform with boundary and demographic data partners rather than producing proprietary market data.
• Geoblink: Geoblink is a location intelligence platform designed specifically for retail network planning and expansion decisions, combining geographic data with consumer insights. It is comparable to MB-Research because both target retail site selection and market potential analysis, though Geoblink is a younger SaaS-focused company versus MB-Research's mature data licensing model.

Others

• Eurostat (statistical office of the EU): Eurostat is the EU's statistical agency publishing harmonized demographic and economic data across European NUTS regions. It is comparable to MB-Research as an alternate source of regional sociodemographic data at NUTS-3 level that MB-Research's customers could leverage, though Eurostat is free government data versus MB-Research's licensed proprietary methodology and deeper granularity.

Direct peers

• Pitney Bowes (MapInfo / Location Intelligence): Pitney Bowes operates a location intelligence business that provides geographic and demographic data products and GIS solutions for enterprise customers. It is comparable to MB-Research because both sell B2B market data and digital map/boundary products used for site selection, sales territory planning, and geomarketing applications across enterprise customers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/michael-bauer-research-gmbh
• Instagraminstagram.com/mbrglobaldata

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Subsidiaries1 record

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 Michael Bauer Research GmbH