A data marketplace is an online venue where providers list datasets and buyers find, compare and acquire them. Some marketplaces only introduce the two sides and leave contract and delivery to them; others run subscription, billing and delivery themselves inside a cloud platform.
Two kinds a buyer meets
The first kind is a directory or brokerage: you search or post a request, providers respond, and the contract and the delivery are agreed outside the venue. The second kind is built into a cloud data platform: a listing can be subscribed to, billed and delivered within the platform, often by data sharing. Buyers tend to use the first kind to shortlist providers when they do not yet know who sells what, and the second to buy through the procurement and billing route they already use with their platform. The platform guides explain how Datarade and Snowflake Marketplace work for a buyer.
What a listing does not settle
A listing summarises a dataset in the provider's words. Before you buy, check what it leaves open:
- The licence: whether it covers internal use, embedding or redistribution, for your team and for your customers.
- Delivery: whether data is shared in place or arrives as files or an API, and how updates reach you.
- Coverage and history: test a sample for the companies you track, not the figures on the listing.
- Sourcing: how the data was collected, and whether the provider answers a due diligence questionnaire.
- Joinability: whether its identifiers match your security master or your CRM.
In Fokals data
Fokals is delivered direct, by REST API and as bulk files, which the buyer loads where needed, and it is licensed by written agreement for internal use, embedding in a product or redistribution. A buyer whose procurement runs through a marketplace contracts with Fokals directly, with sample data for the companies a buyer names sent on request. See the data licensing page, and the comparison of marketplaces and direct licensing.
Related terms
- Third-party data: data collected by one organisation and supplied to another.
- Data licence: the agreement that sets what a buyer may do with the data.
- Due diligence questionnaire: the list of questions a buyer sends a provider about sourcing and conduct.
Frequently asked questions
How does a data marketplace work for buyers?
A buyer searches or filters listings, reads the provider's description, asks for a sample or trial, and then contracts through the marketplace or directly with the provider. Delivery depends on the marketplace: some data is shared inside the buyer's cloud account, and some arrives as files or an API. The marketplace shows what a provider says it offers. The licence and a test on your own list decide whether it fits.
What should I check before buying data from a marketplace listing?
Test a sample for the companies you track, read the licence for the uses you need, and check how updates are delivered and how far back history goes. Ask how the data was sourced and whether the provider answers due diligence questionnaires. Check that its identifiers join to your own records. A listing summarises a dataset; it does not prove coverage or quality.
How do you buy data without a marketplace?
Many providers license directly by contract and deliver by API, files or both. Fokals is delivered direct, by REST API and as bulk files, under a written agreement for internal use, embedding or redistribution, and sample data for the companies you track is sent on request. Test the sample against your own list, read the licence for the uses you need and agree the delivery before you sign.