Market Research Companies in Cambridge: 35 Active Firms (2026)
Market research companies in Cambridge collect, analyse and interpret customer, brand and market data for organisations in the city region.
Buying centres tend to sit with marketing, customer experience, strategy, product and policy teams, with procurement and legal involved when personal data or public-sector work is in scope. Cambridge providers in this category usually sell advisory and delivery capacity rather than software: survey design, interviewing, evidence synthesis, dashboarding and interpretation for business and public-sector clients. Engagements are often fixed-scope studies, recurring trackers or retained insight support, with credibility resting on sampling discipline, participant welfare, transparent reporting and the ability to handle identifiable research data under clear controller and processor roles.
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Cambridge has 35 actively trading market research companies, giving the city region a compact supplier base by UK services standards. Reported employment across the cohort totals 226 people, which points to a market built around small consultancies and specialist teams rather than large delivery centres. Only 2 firms sit above £5M turnover, while 3 were incorporated since 2022, so the local picture combines a handful of scaled service businesses with a thinner recent-startup layer. For buyers, that usually means direct partner involvement, narrower methodological specialisms and limited bench capacity on larger multi-workstream studies.
Providers do not normally need a sector-specific operating licence, but their working model is shaped by professional standards and privacy law. The Market Research Society Code of Conduct covers participant wellbeing, representative-sample reporting, data safeguards, transparent reporting and co-operation with investigations. Where projects use identifiable living people’s data, UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 frame lawful bases, controller and processor roles, safeguards and the research exemptions overseen by the ICO. For Cambridge suppliers selling to business and public-sector clients, procurement scrutiny is likely to fall on consent language, fieldwork governance, secure handling of respondent material and clarity over whether the firm is acting as controller, processor or both.
The Cambridge cohort appears likely to remain weighted towards specialist services rather than productised research platforms. Demand tends to come from clients needing evidence they can defend internally: customer understanding, brand tracking, evaluation work and synthesis for policy or commercial decisions. Smaller firms may find margins squeezed by automated survey tooling and client-side analytics teams, while providers with defensible methods, secure data handling and sector-specific fieldwork skills are better placed. Consolidation is plausible but not inevitable; the local base looks thin enough that succession, subcontracting and partnerships may matter as much as acquisitions.
What’s in the file
One row per company, 50+ columns — everything below plus each company’s verified directors, from Companies House filings.
Company data
Verified directors — included
35
Active firms
2026
2
Over £5M
turnover
3
Since 2022
incorporations
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Key facts
About 5% of the trading cohort reports turnover above £5M (2 of 35 firms) — the rest sits below that revenue band.
8% of the cohort was incorporated since 2022 (3 firms), so a sizeable share is in its first few filing cycles.
MRS is the main UK professional body, and its Code of Conduct applies to MRS Members and Company Partners.
ICO guidance covers UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 research provisions, including lawful bases, controller and processor roles, safeguards, and exemptions for research, archiving and statistical purposes.
MRS estimates the UK research, insight and analytics industry at approaching £9 billion, a +11% uplift on the previous £8 billion estimate.
A wider research and evidence review put annual GVA at £18.74 billion, accounting for between 0.7% and 0.8% of UK GVA.
MRS describes the UK research and evidence market as the second-largest supplier of research services globally, with 64% of UK-based research and evidence businesses conducting projects for clients in other countries.
Top Cambridge Market Research companies
Financial sub-scores
Computed from 4 filingsProvides market research, industry analysis, data services and consulting focused on engineering and industrial software markets. Produces market forecasts, competitive analysis and industry reports…
Serves B2B clients in engineering and industrial software markets, including BIM, manufacturing design and engineering software vendors, investors, and sales and marketing teams across sectors such…
Financial Health
DistressedDistressed
Location
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Computed from 3 filingsProvides market intelligence on emerging technologies through industry research reports, data subscriptions, webinars and articles. Also offers consulting services including technology evaluation,…
Serves corporate strategy, R&D, business development and investment teams in technology-led sectors including energy, mobility, electronics, materials, healthcare, telecoms and manufacturing.
Financial Health
StableStable · Hiring · 12% CAGR over 2y
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsProvides policy and economic development consultancy including programme evaluation, strategy development, and research on employment, skills, innovation and regional growth. Supports public sector…
Serves public sector bodies, universities, local authorities and economic development organisations, particularly teams focused on employment, skills, innovation, regeneration and low-carbon growth.
Financial Health
WeakWeak
Location
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Computed from 3 filingsProvides market research, analysis, and advisory services on enterprise technology, digital transformation, outsourcing, and business services. Publishes industry reports, competitive intelligence,…
Serves Global 2000 executives and enterprise technology and service buyers, plus vendor teams, across sectors including banking, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, life sciences, retail/CPG, TMT,…
Financial Health
DistressedDistressed · -11% CAGR over 2y
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
WeakWeak · 0% CAGR over 4y
Location
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Provides consulting services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and healthcare organisations, analysing and interpreting clinical and health economic data. Delivers evidence development, literature…
Serves pharmaceutical, biotech and medtech companies, plus public-sector and healthcare organisations, targeting market access, HEOR, publications, medical affairs and policy teams across the…
Location
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Computed from 4 filingsProvides economic consultancy and forecasting services, including economic modelling, policy evaluation, impact assessment and strategic analysis. Advises governments, businesses and investors using…
Serves public-sector policymakers, advocacy organisations, private businesses and investors worldwide making strategic or policy decisions on economic, social and environmental issues.
Financial Health
HealthyHealthy · -6% CAGR over 3y
Location
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Provides competitive intelligence, strategic analysis and market research services to organisations in the healthcare and life sciences sectors. Conducts industry research, stakeholder interviews and…
Serves B2B decision makers in healthcare and life sciences, including pharmaceutical and biotech companies seeking strategic market and competitive intelligence support.
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsProvides enriched NHS GP prescribing datasets and analytics for pharmaceutical and healthcare organisations. Sources and processes NHS data and delivers it via hosted platforms, APIs, extracts and…
Sells B2B to pharmaceutical and medical device companies, especially commercial, sales, marketing and product teams using NHS prescribing data intelligence. Also serves teams building business cases…
Financial Health
StrongStrong · Growing, Hiring · 6% CAGR over 4y
Location
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Computed from 3 filingsFinancial Health
DistressedDistressed · 0% CAGR over 2y
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
HealthyHealthy · Hiring · 11% CAGR over 4y
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
StrongStrong · 0% CAGR over 3y
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsDevelops computational modelling and data integration software for cross‑sector analysis. Provides digital twin and semantic interoperability platforms that connect datasets and systems to support…
Serves B2B and public-sector decision-makers in energy, transport, environment, chemicals, smart cities, waste and digitalisation who manage complex cross-sector data and planning challenges.
Financial Health
WeakWeak · -4% CAGR over 4y
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsProvides data analysis, pricing research and strategic consulting for cultural organisations and visitor attractions. Develops audience and market insights, revenue optimisation strategies, and…
Serves B2B cultural organisations and visitor attractions, including theatres, opera companies, dance companies, museums and heritage venues, working with senior leaders on audience, pricing and…
Financial Health
StrongStrong · Growing · 2% CAGR over 4y
Location
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Provides market research, consumer insight and strategic consulting services. Uses qualitative and quantitative research, data analytics, and brand strategy to help organisations understand…
Serves B2B decision-makers, brand owners, and marketing or strategy teams seeking customer insight to support brand, growth, and stakeholder decisions.
Location
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Computed from 4 filingsFinancial Health
DistressedDistressed · 0% CAGR over 3y
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsProvides data extraction, clinical audit and quality improvement programmes for GP practices, supporting management of chronic diseases. Supplies patient‑level reports, population health analytics…
Serves UK primary care providers, especially GP practices, as well as researchers and clinical trial teams needing support for chronic disease management, quality improvement and real-world data…
Financial Health
StrongStrong · Hiring · 21% CAGR over 4y
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
HealthyHealthy · 0% CAGR over 4y
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
StrongStrong
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsProvides market research and analysis on the global logistics and supply chain industry, publishing reports, data platforms, rate trackers and newsletters, and offering consultancy and M&A market…
Serves logistics companies, manufacturers, banks and consultancies seeking market intelligence on global transport, logistics and supply chain sectors.
Financial Health
WeakWeak · 0% CAGR over 4y
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsProvides research, training courses, and consultancy on evidence‑based policing. Develops and delivers online and in‑person programmes, conducts studies on policing practices, and supports police…
Serves police forces, law enforcement agencies and associated public-sector organisations in the UK and other democratic countries, including police leaders and professionals seeking evidence-based…
Financial Health
DistressedDistressed · -11% CAGR over 4y
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
StableStable
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsProvides economic and commercial development consultancy, including economic research, impact analysis, and strategy development for public, private and non‑profit organisations. Delivers business…
Serves public-sector bodies, local/regional/national authorities, private businesses and not-for-profits in the UK and internationally, especially organisations involved in economic development and…
Financial Health
WeakWeak · 0% CAGR over 4y
Location
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Computed from 3 filingsFinancial Health
WeakWeak · -42% CAGR over 2y
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Computed from 3 filingsFinancial Health
StableStable
Location
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
StableStable · 0% CAGR over 4y
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Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
WeakWeak · 0% CAGR over 4y
Location
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Computed from 3 filingsFinancial Health
HealthyHealthy
Location
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Financial sub-scores
Computed from 5 filingsFinancial Health
HealthyHealthy · 0% CAGR over 4y
Location
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How Cambridge Market Research companies work and how to sell to them
What they do
Revenue usually comes from fixed-fee research projects, retained insight support and repeat trackers rather than licence income. Cambridge market research firms tend to sell expert time, fieldwork management and interpretation, with external costs for respondent recruitment, incentives, transcription or specialist moderation often passed through or itemised. Pricing is commonly scoped around method, sample size, stakeholder complexity and reporting format. A short diagnostic project may be sold as a discrete study, while ongoing brand, customer or policy trackers are more likely to sit on a quarterly or annual retainer. Some providers add dashboarding or analytics delivery, but the commercial centre remains consultancy-led evidence production.
Who they sell to
Most buyers are business or public-sector teams that need defensible evidence for customer, market, product or policy decisions. Marketing, customer experience, strategy and product leaders often sponsor the work, while procurement, legal and information governance teams become more visible when identifiable participant material, public tenders or multi-stakeholder reporting are involved. Smaller studies are typically bought through direct relationships and budget-holder approval. Larger programmes tend to involve a written brief, competitive proposals, data-processing questions and a longer review cycle. Cambridge firms often win when senior researchers can speak directly to the problem, not just the methodology.
What they buy
Spend tends to sit close to delivery: participant recruitment, panel access, survey scripting, interview support, transcription, translation, incentive handling, data cleaning and charting. Most market research firms also need CRM, proposal management, project accounting, time tracking, secure file sharing, access control, consent capture, analytics and reporting tools. Services spend commonly includes privacy advice, contracts, insurance, bookkeeping, bid support, copy-editing, design and specialist recruitment for researchers, analysts and project managers. Firms working with public-sector or sensitive respondent material are more likely to care about audit trails, retention policies, permissions and evidence that subcontractors handle data properly.
Why and how to sell to them
Market research buyers tend to evaluate suppliers when workload becomes harder to manage through spreadsheets, when a tracker moves from occasional to recurring, when a public-sector brief raises governance requirements, or when a client asks for clearer proof of data handling. New senior hires, a run of proposal activity or movement into more sensitive research can also create buying intent. Outbound angles work better when tied to delivery risk: fewer fieldwork errors, cleaner handovers, faster reporting cycles, clearer participant permissions or lower admin time for small teams. Generic productivity claims are less persuasive than evidence that the vendor understands research quality and respondent obligations.
How this list is built
Data sources
This list is built from UK Companies House filings, XBRL accounts data, and semantic analysis of each company's public website. Revenue and headcount figures come from the most recent filed accounts; where the company has not filed, values are estimated using a model trained on filed history and peer benchmarks and are labelled as estimates.
Classification
Rather than relying solely on SIC codes, Firmbase classifies each company semantically: the company's website is crawled, an AI model reads what the company actually sells, and the company is placed into the relevant industry and subsectors. SIC codes are used as one signal but not the only one. This means a company that registered under a generic SIC code but pivoted into (for example) fintech is correctly identified as fintech, not as its original SIC category.
Freshness
The underlying company data is refreshed from Companies House continuously; filings appear in the list within days of submission. The curated list ordering is regenerated when the underlying data moves meaningfully (company count changes by more than 5%, a new company enters the top-ranked segment, or the filed-revenue numbers for the top firms change). You can see the last-updated timestamp near the top of the page.
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