Public Spend Forum

What Public Spend Forum does

Public Spend Forum (PSF) is a Washington, D.C.-headquartered market intelligence company founded in 2015 that provides validated, decision-grade intelligence on government markets, defense supply chains, and emerging technology ecosystems. Its core platform, GovShop, covers 5M+ suppliers and 180M+ documents and is paired with proprietary matching algorithms (OntologyMatch, EntityMatch, SpendMatch, ProgramMatch) and a Global Expert Network of 200+ senior domain specialists. PSF delivers its intelligence through Rapid Market Intelligence Sprints (1-Day Lite, 2-Week Full, or Custom), self-service tools (AskPSF generative AI Q&A, AI-Powered Market Report Generator, Innovation Ecosystem Dashboards, OpenSearch), and supporting sub-brands including GovAIRS (supplier programs), GovLABS (prime contractor support), and GovMarket Growth Accelerator (underserved vendor access).

The company serves defense and national security innovation teams (Defense Innovation Unit, Air Force Research Laboratory, National Security program offices), federal R&D program offices (NSF), prime contractors, venture capital and investment firms, state and regional economic development organizations, and emerging technology suppliers. Customers span agencies including DIU, AFRL, the Air Force Installation Contracting Agency, the Defense Logistics Agency, and the Naval Postgraduate School. Raj Sharma (also CEO of Censeo Consulting) leads the company as Founder and CEO; Dr. Steve Kelman (Harvard) joined the Board of Advisors.

PSF generates revenue through a hybrid model: annual Market Insights Ecosystem subscriptions, monthly GovShop AI-powered plans, usage-based PSF Credits, a la carte Sprint purchases, and custom advisory engagements. Go-to-market combines direct enterprise field sales for Sprints and advisory work, self-service/PLG motion for GovShop plans, and channel partnerships (notably the GovMarket Growth Accelerator with The Shatter Fund and infrastructure support via AWS). Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed. The company has a modest geographic footprint — Washington D.C. (headquarters), Chicago, and Camberley, UK (European presence established 2016) — and operates primarily across U.S. federal and state government markets.

Name

Public Spend Forum

Legal name

Public Spend Forum LLC

Website

https://publicspendforum.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Public Spend Forum is a Washington, D.C.-based market intelligence platform providing validated supplier, supply chain, and emerging-technology intelligence for U.S. defense, federal, and regional government buyers through its GovShop platform, Rapid Market Intelligence Sprints, and AI tools like AskPSF.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Government Market Intelligence

NAICS

Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910), Marketing Consulting Services (541613)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Data, Analytics & AI Consulting (BPAHAEAF)

Keywords

• Government market intelligence
• Public sector analytics
• Supplier discovery platform
• Defense innovation intelligence
• Supply chain mapping

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Market Intelligence Subscriptions: Subscription-based access to PSF's Market Intelligence Ecosystem including Innovation Ecosystem Dashboards, AskPSF Q&A, and Market Briefs. PSF Credits are used as currency for accessing various features and services within the platform.
2. Rapid Market Intelligence Sprints: On-demand custom analysis sprints available as 1-Day Lite, 2-Week Full Sprint, or Custom Sprint. Can be purchased a-la-carte or through Market Insights Subscription. Delivered as living intelligence with refreshed data.
3. Market and Supply Chain Advisory Services: In-depth studies and market/supply chain advisory services delivered by Analysts, SMEs and strategic partners to support strategic needs and critical priorities.
4. AI-Powered Reports and Data Exports: Credits-based system for generating custom market reports, viewing detailed supplier/investor profiles, and exporting lists. Users pay for consumption of specific services.
5. GovShop AI Market Intelligence Plans: AI-Powered Market Intelligence plans leveraging proprietary matching engine with data on 2M+ suppliers for rapid discovery of emerging and diverse suppliers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Public Spend Forum combines human analysts and subject matter experts with AI-powered tools (AI-MI) to deliver validated, decision-grade market intelligence on government markets, supply chains, and emerging technologies. Its core offering centers on Rapid Market Intelligence Sprints (1-Day Lite, 2-Week Full, or Custom) paired with a self-service Market Insights Ecosystem that includes generative AI Q&A (AskPSF), AI-Powered Market Report Generator, Innovation Ecosystem Dashboards, and OpenSearch across 5M+ suppliers. Customers include defense innovation units, federal R&D program offices, prime contractors, investors, and regional economic development organizations.

Product overview

Public Spend Forum operates a multi-product market intelligence ecosystem centered on GovShop, an AI-enabled platform providing supplier discovery and market analysis for government markets. The core offering combines Rapid Market Intelligence Sprints (available as 1-day Lite, 2-week Full, or Custom formats) with self-service tools including AskPSF (generative AI Q&A), the AI-Powered Market Report Generator, Innovation Ecosystem Dashboards, and OpenSearch. Supporting products include GovAIRS (supplier programs), GovLABS (prime contractor support), Assisted Market Research, the GovMarket Growth Accelerator for underserved companies, and a Global Expert Network. All offerings are powered by AI-MI (AI for Market Intelligence) combining analyst expertise with proprietary data and matching algorithms across 5M+ suppliers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• GovShop: AI-enabled market intelligence platform for the public sector providing supplier discovery, contract data, and market research tools.
• GovAIRS
• GovLABS
• AskPSF

Products and services

• GovShop AI-enabled market intelligence platform for the public sector that provides supplier discovery, contract intelligence, and market analysis across government markets, covering over 2 million suppliers with 180M+ documents.
• Rapid Market Intelligence Sprints On-demand market intelligence analysis available in 1-Day Lite, 2-Week Full, or Custom Sprint formats, combining analyst expertise with AI-powered workflows to deliver validated market insights.
• AskPSF Generative AI Q&A tool that uses only validated data to answer questions about companies, markets, and supply chains, eliminating hallucinations and unreliable data.
• AI-Powered Market Report Generator Custom market report generation capability backed by PSF's deep proprietary data, generating detailed reports in minutes based on user-specified lists and criteria.
• Innovation Ecosystem Dashboards Interactive dashboards for monitoring and analyzing market trends, capital flows, and regional innovation ecosystems, with customizable views and data visualization.
• Assisted Market Research AI-powered market intelligence microservice combining GovShop's proprietary AI-matching engine with continuously updated data on over 2 million suppliers for rapid supplier discovery.
• GovAIRS Supplier programs and subscriptions providing growth support and reduced time to revenue for suppliers in the government market.
• GovLABS Market data and programs for prime contractors to identify and support emerging and diverse suppliers.
• GovMarket Growth Accelerator Program in partnership with Shatter Fund helping women-led, diverse, and underserved companies accelerate growth in government markets through coaching, AI-matching, and market intelligence access.
• Market Insights Ecosystem Subscription Annual subscription providing access to Sprints plus Market Insights Tools including Innovation Ecosystem Dashboards, AskPSF Q&A, and Market Briefs for enterprise clients.

Quantifiable outcome

• Rapid intelligence delivery in as little as one day vs traditional months-long research
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers20 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability6 records

Feature10 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• FandesminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 8 December 2020E-commerce marketplace partnership for launch of PPE and COVID-19 Tech Products marketplace providing growing list of PPE, testing kits, and COVID-19-related technology products from vetted suppliers.
• XPDELminorOthers · 8 December 2020Nationwide network of eCommerce fulfillment centers partnered with GovShop and Fandes for order fulfillment of PPE marketplace.
• NC State University - Supply Chain Resource CooperativecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 April 2020Partnership with NC State University's Supply Chain Resource Cooperative to launch COVID-19 Supplier Survey to map and verify suppliers for COVID-19 equipment and supplies. Joint research efforts focused on understanding supplier capacity, verifying suppliers, and developing network optimization models.
• DcodeminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 8 May 2018Partnership with Dcode and Shatter Fund to launch Public Procurement Technology Innovation Labs, with launch event in Los Angeles in collaboration with Office of the Mayor.
• ShatterFundcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerPartnership between The Shatter Fund and Public Spend Forum's GovMarket Growth Accelerator to help women-led, underserved and emerging companies accelerate their growth in the government market. Provides coaching, brand/community building, AI-matching technology, and market intelligence access.
• Bunker LabsminorGTM or Marketing PartnerBunker Labs - Veteran entrepreneurship organization partnered with PSF for events and ecosystem development supporting veteran-founded companies in government markets.
• AWS (Amazon Web Services)coreTechnology or IntegrationAWS partnership providing cloud infrastructure support for PSF's AI-powered market intelligence platform and GovShop ecosystem.
• FedTechminorGTM or Marketing PartnerFedTech - Federal technology accelerator partnered with PSF for events and market intelligence sharing focused on federal innovation ecosystem.
• Mass ChallengeminorGTM or Marketing PartnerMass Challenge - Startup accelerator partnered with PSF for events and market intelligence to support emerging technology companies in government markets.
• NIGP (National Institute of Government Purchasing)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerNIGP - Public procurement professional association partnered with PSF for events and content sharing on procurement best practices.
• AHRMM (Association for Health Care Resource & Materials Management)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerAHRMM - Healthcare supply chain association partnered with PSF for healthcare procurement market intelligence and events.
• SAFETECHminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSAFETECH - Safety technology organization partnered with PSF for events and market intelligence on safety-related government procurement.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Booz Allen Hamilton: Booz Allen Hamilton provides defense and federal consulting including supply chain and emerging tech market intelligence — a broad incumbent serving the same buyers as PSF with much larger resources.
• SAIC: SAIC is a large federal services and IT integrator that performs defense supply chain and market analysis internally — comparable as a broad incumbent operating in the same government/defense intelligence space as PSF.

Others

• Mitre Corporation: Mitre operates federally funded R&D centers producing strategic technology and supply chain analysis for defense and homeland security — adjacent to PSF's defense innovation intelligence work, though delivered as a not-for-profit.

Direct peers

• GovWin IQ (Deltek): GovWin IQ is the dominant subscription intelligence platform for government contracting opportunities, contract history, and agency profiles — the closest direct competitor to PSF's GovShop and Sprint products for both primes and emerging suppliers.
• Onvia (a Deltek company): Onvia aggregates government procurement solicitations and supplier intelligence for businesses pursuing public-sector contracts — highly comparable to PSF's supplier discovery and demand signal offerings.
• Bloomberg Government: Bloomberg Government provides policy, budget, and contracting intelligence to government affairs and capture teams, directly overlapping with PSF's federal market intelligence and program-office mapping use cases.
• DS Federal: DS Federal is a government IT services and consulting firm that supports federal agencies with data analytics, market research, and supply chain intelligence — directly comparable to PSF's advisory and sprint offerings.
• Eagle Eye Publishers: Eagle Eye Publishers produces GovCon market intelligence reports, including competitor pipelines and agency forecasts — comparable to PSF's analyst-led Sprint research in the defense innovation space.
• GovSpend: GovSpend tracks government spending transactions, contracts, and procurement data — overlapping with PSF's contract intelligence and supplier spend analysis offerings for government buyers and suppliers.
• Federal Sources (Maximus): Federal Sources produces market research and competitive intelligence on the federal IT and government services market — directly comparable to PSF's subscription research and supplier ecosystem mapping capabilities.

Market position

Strengths1 record

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/groups/8657160
• Xx.com/PSpendForum

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 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 Public Spend Forum