RelPro and NCMM Forge Alliance to Unlock Middle Market Data

SHORT HILLS, NJ – March 12, 2026 – Business intelligence platform RelPro and the National Center for the Middle Market (NCMM) have announced a strategic partnership, a move designed to illuminate a vital yet often misunderstood segment of the U.S. economy. The collaboration will merge RelPro's advanced data aggregation capabilities with NCMM's authoritative research to provide financial institutions, professional services, and policymakers with a clearer, more actionable view of middle market companies.

This alliance directly targets a long-standing challenge: the scarcity of reliable, comprehensive data on the businesses that form the backbone of the American economy. By combining their respective strengths, the organizations aim to transform how stakeholders access, understand, and engage with this critical sector.

“Our partnership with NCMM reflects a shared commitment to improving the quality and accessibility of intelligence on the middle market,” said Raaj Rajmangal, CEO of RelPro, in a statement. “By working together, we’re expanding the depth and coverage of insights, helping stakeholders make more informed decisions.”

The Overlooked Economic Engine

The middle market, as defined by the NCMM, consists of nearly 200,000 businesses with annual revenues between $10 million and $1 billion. Though they operate in the shadow of small startups and large multinational corporations, their collective economic impact is staggering. This segment accounts for approximately one-third of the private sector's GDP and employs around 48 million Americans. If the U.S. middle market were its own country, its economy would rank as the fifth largest in the world.

Despite its significance, this sector has historically been plagued by an information gap. Unlike publicly traded large-cap companies that are required to disclose detailed financials, or small businesses tracked by various government agencies, private middle market firms are notoriously difficult to analyze as a cohesive group. Professionals serving this market have long grappled with data that is fragmented, inconsistent, or simply inaccurate.

This data deficiency, often described as “garbage in, garbage out,” creates significant hurdles. It complicates credit assessments for lenders, hinders effective marketing strategies, and makes it difficult for economists and policymakers to track the health of this vital economic engine. The new partnership seeks to remedy this precise problem.

A Synergy of Data and Research

The collaboration brings together two complementary powerhouses. The NCMM, housed at The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business, is the nation’s preeminent research institution dedicated to this sector, known for its quarterly Middle Market Indicator (MMI) report. RelPro, meanwhile, has built its platform on the belief that no single source of B2B data is perfect. It integrates and validates information from over 25 best-in-class data partners—including names like Dun & Bradstreet, BoardEx, and Bombora—to create a more holistic and reliable intelligence profile.

NCMM will leverage RelPro’s platform to enhance its own research and outreach initiatives, enabling more precise segmentation of companies by geography, industry, and revenue size. This sharpened focus will improve the accuracy of its studies and its ability to engage with stakeholders across the country.

“Accurate, comprehensive data has always been one of the biggest challenges in middle market research,” noted Doug Farren, Managing Director of NCMM. “RelPro’s tools will help the NCMM identify middle market companies more accurately, increasing our outreach and engagement with various stakeholders across the country.”

In return, RelPro gains increased visibility through NCMM's extensive network of middle market leaders, advisors, and academic partners, effectively receiving an endorsement from the sector's most trusted research voice.

Powering Strategic Growth and Outreach

The practical applications of this enriched data ecosystem are extensive. For financial and professional services firms, the partnership promises to move business development beyond guesswork and into the realm of data-driven strategy.

Commercial bankers, for example, can use the integrated intelligence to identify companies that are actively signaling a need for new services, such as funding for an expansion or a new commercial real estate lease. By combining RelPro’s buyer intent data with NCMM’s macro-level insights, bankers can initiate more relevant and timely conversations. Wealth managers can similarly pinpoint high-net-worth business owners and executives, mapping relationship pathways for warm introductions.

Professional services firms in law, accounting, and consulting can accelerate their lead generation by creating highly specific prospect lists and staying informed with real-time alerts on client and prospect activities. This allows them to function as proactive advisors rather than reactive service providers. Ultimately, the middle market companies themselves stand to benefit indirectly through access to more tailored financial products, more strategic advice, and a more efficient market that better understands their unique needs.

Navigating a Crowded Intelligence Landscape

The market for B2B sales and business intelligence is a competitive one, populated by major players like ZoomInfo, Dun & Bradstreet's Hoovers, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator. Each offers powerful tools for lead generation and market research. However, the RelPro-NCMM alliance carves out a unique and defensible niche.

Where competitors offer vast oceans of data, this partnership provides a curated, research-backed intelligence stream specifically for the middle market. It is not just another data firehose; it is the fusion of RelPro's multi-source, relationship-focused platform with the deep contextual understanding and authoritative voice of the NCMM. This unique combination aims to deliver a level of insight that generalist platforms may struggle to match, offering not just names and numbers but a nuanced understanding of the trends, challenges, and opportunities within the economy's powerful middle.