ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Tunnl, the AI-powered audience intelligence platform, today announced its inclusion in the 2026 Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies. Tunnl is one of 126 Artificial Intelligence and Data companies recognized on this year’s list, a group that reflects the growing importance of applied AI infrastructure across industries.
The Inc. 5000 ranks the fastest-growing private companies in the United States by revenue growth over a three-year period, and inclusion signals sustained performance in one of the most competitive periods for private company growth in recent memory.
A Signal of the Category Taking Shape
Tunnl’s placement on the Inc. 5000 reflects rapid adoption of the platform’s approach to audience intelligence, which connects survey research, audience targeting, activation, and campaign measurement in a single closed loop platform. The company has scaled significantly over the past 12 months, adding Fortune 500 clients across healthcare, financial services, and consumer technology.
Recent momentum has been driven by a broader shift in how brands evaluate research and marketing technology. As brands look to reduce the loss that happens across every handoff in a modern marketing campaign, from research to targeting to activation to measurement, demand is growing for connected intelligence platforms that keep everything under one roof.
Sara Fagen, CEO and co-founder of Tunnl, who brings more than 20 years of experience across political campaigns and as a four-time founder, said the recognition reflects growing brands demand for AI platforms grounded in real, ground truth data.
“Being named to the Inc. 5000 reflects the growing demand we’re seeing for a new way to understand and act on human opinion,” says Sara Fagen, CEO of Tunnl. “Human opinion evolves over time, so organizations need to be able to not just capture that evolution, but act on it. That’s why we built Tunnl with survey data as the foundation, using AI-powered layers to make those insights actionable and scalable. Our growth is a reflection of that need, and of the true campaign operating system we’ve created for marketers, advocacy leaders, and agency executives.”
Growth Reflects Demand Across Industries
The company’s Q1 2026 performance underscored the acceleration. Tunnl conducted four times more custom research projects in Q1 2026 than in the same period last year, with the volume of custom surveys launched in the first quarter alone matching the total number fielded across all of 2025.
Tunnl’s clients span pharmaceutical manufacturers, trade associations, and Fortune 500 brands operating in high-stakes communications environments, where audience precision affects both business performance and reputational outcomes.
About the Inc. 5000
The Inc. 5000 is Inc. magazine’s annual list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. This year’s cohort includes companies working across AI, health care, software, consumer products, food and beverage, and other high-growth sectors. The full 2026 list is available at inc.com/inc5000/2026, with Tunnl’s profile at inc.com/profile/tunnl.
About Tunnl
Tunnl is an AI-powered audience intelligence platform that connects survey research, insights, audience targeting, insights, activation, and campaign measurement all in one closed loop platform. Founded in 2021 by data and political strategy veterans Sara Fagen and Brent Seaborn, Tunnl serves Fortune 500 brands, media agencies, trade associations, and advocacy organizations navigating high-stakes communications environments. The company is headquartered in Arlington, VA.
For more information about Tunnl, users can visit tunnldata.com.
Contact
Media Rep
Jamie Kingsley
Tunnl
[email protected]
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/31bfd5b5-d366-465f-a9fe-1cf82b36755d
