A Calgary-based startup is taking aim at the $90 billion market research industry with a hybrid approach that promises to deliver what traditional firms can't: speed, affordability, and fresh human insights. Cashew Research just won TechCrunch Disrupt's enterprise stage competition with technology that automates survey creation and analysis while still collecting real-world data from actual people, potentially democratizing market research for smaller brands that have been priced out of the market.
Cashew Research is betting that the $90 billion market research industry is ripe for disruption. The Calgary-based startup just proved its point by winning the enterprise stage pitch competition at TechCrunch Disrupt, showcasing an AI-powered platform that promises to solve one of the industry's biggest pain points: the impossible timeline demands from clients who want comprehensive research delivered in days, not weeks.
CEO Addy Graves knows this frustration intimately. With over a decade in market research, she watched clients repeatedly ask for the impossible - full research projects with real-world human data completed within tight deadlines. "That was definitely the aha moment," Graves told TechCrunch. "And it wasn't until the onset of AI that we were actually able to automate these processes that we use as researchers."
The company's approach sits in what Graves calls the middle ground between expensive traditional firms and unreliable AI-only solutions. Cashew Research uses AI to develop customized market research plans and surveys based on specific client needs - whether that's measuring brand recognition among target demographics or testing how marketing taglines resonate with potential customers. But here's the crucial difference: instead of relying purely on large language models that recycle existing internet data, Cashew sends these AI-generated surveys to real people and then uses AI again to analyze and summarize the findings.
"You can use an LLM to try to do deep research and get answers to your questions, or you could use a firm that's going to be really expensive," Graves explained to TechCrunch. "Now there's Cashew that exists in the middle. It creates custom, fresh data to answer your question instead of you just using an LLM that's surfacing the same recycled pool of data that everybody's finding on the internet."
This hybrid model isn't just about speed - it's about democratizing access to market research insights. Traditional market research firms price out small and medium-sized businesses that can't afford comprehensive studies. By automating the research design and analysis phases while maintaining the human data collection component, Cashew Research significantly reduces costs and timelines.
Graves founded the company in 2023 alongside Chief Operating Officer Rose Wong, initially focusing on consumer packaged goods, particularly food and beverage brands. The founders recognized that AI marketing tools were flooding the market, but most were fully automated systems that lacked the nuanced insights that come from fresh human perspectives.
The startup's competitive advantage extends beyond just faster turnaround times. Cashew Research anonymizes and stores all the real-world data it collects from client projects, building a proprietary database that enhances future research capabilities. This growing data repository could become increasingly valuable as the company scales, providing richer context for market analysis.
The market opportunity is substantial. According to Research and Markets, the global market research industry is worth $90 billion and continues growing as brands seek deeper consumer insights in an increasingly competitive landscape. But Graves sees an even bigger opportunity in expanding the market itself.
"The people who are already buying research, that's already a massive category, but that doesn't even include all the people that could be buying research but just can't afford it or can't do it right now because they don't have the timelines," she told TechCrunch. "We're actually creating this new category for marketers to gain access to answers to these questions that they've had."
The company has already raised C$1.5 million in pre-seed funding and is preparing to launch its seed round in early 2026, targeting up to $5 million to continue developing the platform's technology. The timing aligns with Cashew Research's two main strategic priorities: expanding its presence in the U.S. market and building out its B2B business beyond the initial consumer packaged goods focus.
Investor interest in AI-powered market research tools has been growing as businesses seek more efficient ways to understand consumer behavior. The sector sits at the intersection of two major trends: the enterprise adoption of AI automation tools and the increasing demand for data-driven marketing insights.
Cashew Research's victory at TechCrunch Disrupt signals growing investor confidence in hybrid AI solutions that combine automation with human insights. As the startup prepares for its seed round and U.S. expansion, it's positioning itself to capture both existing market research spend and the untapped demand from smaller businesses that have been priced out of traditional research. The real test will be whether Graves and her team can scale their human-AI hybrid model while maintaining the quality and speed advantages that set them apart in an increasingly crowded field of AI marketing tools.
