Cashew Research uses AI to speed up marketing research-without losing human judgment
Wednesday, 10 December 2025, 00:54
Marketing research is a $90 billion global market, but access is often slow and expensive. Cashew Research, based in Calgary, Alberta, is building a faster path. The company blends AI with expert oversight to plan studies, field surveys with real people, and deliver analysis that answers specific brand questions.
Based on reporting from TechCrunch Disrupt's Startup Battlefield, Cashew stood out in 2025 by winning the Enterprise Stage competition.
How Cashew works
Cashew creates research plans and survey instruments based on the exact question you need answered-like brand recognition within a niche audience or how a slogan lands with target buyers. It then sends surveys to real respondents and uses AI to summarize and analyze the results. The outcome is a concise, decision-ready report grounded in fresh data.
"You can use an LLM to conduct deep research and get answers to your questions, or hire a firm that will be very expensive," said Addy Graves, co-founder and CEO of Cashew. "There's Cashew now that occupies the middle ground. It creates bespoke, fresh data to answer your question, instead of you simply using an LLM that demonstrates the same processed data pool found on the Internet."
Why this matters for marketers
- Faster turnarounds: projects that once took weeks can be delivered in days.
- Lower costs: automation trims overhead so smaller teams can run meaningful studies.
- Fresh data beats stale web summaries: answers reflect real people, not scraped content.
- Consistent quality: AI encodes best practices and standardizes reporting formats.
Human-in-the-loop advantage
Cashew isn't fully automated. Every project collects new responses from people, then pairs AI with researcher oversight. The team anonymizes project data and adds it to an internal dataset, strengthening future studies while protecting client privacy.
Focus areas and traction
Founded in 2023 by Graves and COO Rose Wong, Cashew began with consumer goods-especially food and beverage. The company's approach resonated at industry events, culminating in its selection among 200 startups for TechCrunch's Startup Battlefield and a win in the Enterprise Stage category.
Funding and near-term strategy
Cashew has raised C$1.5 million in pre-seed funding. A seed round of up to C$5 million is planned for early 2026 to deepen the product's technical core. Priorities for the coming year include a stronger presence in the United States and building out a B2B motion focused on brand needs.
Practical uses you can run this quarter
- Brand recognition within a tightly defined audience to guide media mix and reach strategy.
- Tagline and message testing to refine creative before major spend.
- Concept checks for new flavors, formats, or pack sizes in CPG to reduce launch risk.
- Ad diagnostic studies to find what resonates and where ads underperform.
How to brief Cashew for stronger outcomes
- Define the decision: what will change if the data points one way or another?
- Specify audiences and quotas: segments, geos, current customers vs. prospects.
- Set constraints: budget, sample size, confidence needs, and timeline.
- Provide assets: creative variations, value props, or claims to test.
- Plan handoff: how the results feed your media plan, creative iterations, or pricing model.
What the founders are betting on
Cashew's thesis is simple: make high-quality research accessible and fast, while keeping experienced researchers in the loop. With fresh respondent data and AI-enabled analysis, marketers get answers on real timelines-without giving up rigor.
If you want to build your team's AI fluency for research, explore the AI Certification for Marketing Specialists.
Source: TechCrunch coverage of Startup Battlefield at Disrupt 2025
Your membership also unlocks:
