Researchfish
Researchfish is a SaaS platform operated by Elsevier that enables research funders, charities, and universities to systematically collect, track, and report on the outputs, outcomes, and societal impact of funded research across multi-year grant portfolios.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2012
- HeadquartersCambridge, United Kingdom
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Researchfish does
Researchfish is a standardized research impact assessment platform designed for organisations that fund or conduct research, including funders, charities, foundations, learned societies, universities, research centres, and private organisations. The platform enables institutional buyers to systematically collect, track, and report on the outputs, outcomes, and societal impact of funded research projects, addressing the problem that researchers are otherwise required to report into multiple disconnected systems and that funders lack a consolidated view of portfolio-level impact. Under the hood, Researchfish is a web-based SaaS application (accessed via app.researchfish.com) that ingests structured research output data from grantees, aggregates it at the funder or institution level, and surfaces analytics and impact storytelling tools to inform funding strategy and stakeholder communication. The product has accumulated 12 years of longitudinal research impact data, a dataset that supports benchmarking and analytical reporting such as the published 'Mapping the impact of UK research' report.
Researchfish is operated by Elsevier B.V., a Dutch publishing and analytics company that is itself a wholly-owned subsidiary of RELX Group (Euronext Amsterdam: REN). Within Elsevier's enterprise product suite, Researchfish is sold as a subscription-based SaaS product through Elsevier's direct enterprise sales organisation, targeting institutional buyers globally under a quote-based pricing model with multi-year contracts. The go-to-market is consultative and enterprise-focused, with the product page, client stories section, and published impact reports serving as the primary marketing channels. The go-to-market motion targets two primary customer segments: funders and charities that need to demonstrate the value of their research investments to stakeholders, and universities that need to track and articulate the impact of their research portfolios across diverse funding sources. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and is negotiated directly with Elsevier's enterprise sales team, and no independent funding rounds, M&A activity, or separately reported financial figures are associated with the platform.
Researchfish firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Researchfish
- Legal name
- Researchfish (operating as part of Elsevier)
- Website
- https://researchfish.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2012
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Researchfish is a SaaS platform operated by Elsevier that enables research funders, charities, and universities to systematically collect, track, and report on the outputs, outcomes, and societal impact of funded research across multi-year grant portfolios.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Researchfish industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Research Impact Assessment Software
- NAICS
- Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Software Publishers (513210)
- SIC
- Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Research Administration & Compliance (Sponsored Programs, IRB/REB) (EDADAKAH)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Research & Science Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAI), Research Administration & Grants Management Support (Pre/Post-Award, Compliance) (EDAEALAO)
Keywords
Where Researchfish is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Cambridge
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Markets served
Researchfish business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- SaaS Platform Subscription: Researchfish operates as a subscription-based SaaS platform under Elsevier, providing research impact assessment services to institutional customers including funders, charities, universities, and research organisations. The platform is sold as an annual or multi-year contract to enterprise buyers.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels3 records
Researchfish product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Researchfish sells a SaaS research impact assessment platform for organisations that fund or administer research. It collects, tracks and reports research outputs, outcomes and impact-related data across grants and portfolios so funders and universities can evaluate impact and inform funding strategies.
Product overview
Researchfish is a single, unified research impact assessment platform designed to help organisations that fund research collect comprehensive data on research outputs and outcomes. The platform serves as a centralised system for grant reporting, enabling funders and universities to track the progress and success of funded projects, generate impact stories for stakeholders, and make data-driven decisions about future funding strategies. The product is offered as a standalone platform accessible via app.researchfish.com with sign-in functionality.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Researchfish
Quantifiable outcome
- Organisations gain systematic reporting from all grants for the first time
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Researchfish
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Researchfish technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Researchfish partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators1 record
Recent moves3 records
Expansion highlights3 records
Researchfish competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- ORCID: ORCID provides persistent researcher identifiers and is widely integrated with funder and publisher systems for grant and reporting workflows. It is an enabling component of the impact reporting ecosystem in which Researchfish operates and an indirect participant in researcher identity and reporting standardisation.
- ÜberResearch / Grant Forward (Candid): ÜberResearch (now part of Candid) provided funder analytics and grant intelligence for research funding organisations. It competes with Researchfish in the pre-award and portfolio analytics layer where funders evaluate their research investments.
- Research Professional (Clarivate): Research Professional (part of Clarivate) provides funding opportunity databases and research intelligence for institutions and funders. It is an adjacent participant in the funder research intelligence ecosystem that overlaps with Researchfish's institutional buyer base.
- Pivot-RP (ProQuest / Clarivate): Pivot-RP (now part of Clarivate) provides funding opportunity discovery and research intelligence for academic institutions. It targets overlapping buyer personas in research offices and competes in adjacent slots of the institutional research information budget.
- Elsevier Pure: Pure is Elsevier's research information management system for universities, providing output tracking, profile management, and analytics. As a sibling Elsevier product, it overlaps materially with Researchfish in the university research office segment and could substitute for or complement Researchfish depending on Elsevier's product strategy.
Others
- Figshare: Figshare provides research output management, data sharing, and impact tracking for institutions and funders. As an enabling platform in the broader research impact ecosystem, it is thematically related to Researchfish's research output collection use cases but does not directly compete in funder impact reporting.
Direct peers
- Digital Science (Dimensions): Digital Science's Dimensions platform provides research metrics, grant tracking, and analytical tools for funders and institutions. It directly competes with Researchfish in research impact assessment and funder analytics, and also bundles altmetric and research information management capabilities.
- Symplectic Elements: Symplectic Elements is a research information management system used by universities to capture, manage, and report on research outputs. It competes with Researchfish in the university research office workflow and overlaps with funder reporting functionality.
- Altmetric: Altmetric (owned by Digital Science) tracks the attention and broader societal impact of research outputs through alternative metrics. It overlaps directly with Researchfish's impact storytelling and stakeholder engagement use cases, particularly for funders seeking to demonstrate societal reach beyond academic citations.
Broad incumbents
- Clarivate (Web of Science / ScholarOne): Clarivate operates Web of Science, ScholarOne, and related research analytics offerings that overlap with research impact assessment and grants management. As a broad incumbent in research intelligence, it competes across multiple dimensions of the impact reporting workflow where Researchfish operates.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Researchfish social profiles
Digital presenceResearchfish financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Researchfish leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Researchfish funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Researchfish 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 Researchfish
What does Researchfish do?
Researchfish sells a SaaS research impact assessment platform for organisations that fund or administer research. It collects, tracks and reports research outputs, outcomes and impact-related data across grants and portfolios so funders and universities can evaluate impact and inform funding strategies.
Is Researchfish a public or private company?
Researchfish is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Researchfish founded?
Researchfish was founded in 2012. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Researchfish based?
Researchfish is headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Researchfish make money?
One revenue line is on record: saaS Platform Subscription.
Who are Researchfish's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are ORCID, ÜberResearch / Grant Forward (Candid), Research Professional (Clarivate), Pivot-RP (ProQuest / Clarivate) and Elsevier Pure. Figshare is listed as an others. Direct peers are Digital Science (Dimensions), Symplectic Elements and Altmetric. Clarivate (Web of Science / ScholarOne) is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Researchfish have an API?
No public API is recorded for Researchfish.
What industry is Researchfish in?
Researchfish's product category is Research Impact Assessment Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDADAKAH, Research Administration & Compliance (Sponsored Programs, IRB/REB), with a secondary code of BPAGAKAI, Research & Science Grantmaking Foundations. Its NAICS code is 5417 and its SIC code is 8742.