What does Open & Candid build?

Open & Candid designs and builds bespoke intelligence platforms , web-based tools that combine government, statutory and public datasets with commercial intelligence to create products that deliver specific value to a defined audience. Examples include OC Political (political finance intelligence), OC Corporate (company intelligence), OC Brethren (PBCC network intelligence) and OC ESOS (large energy user intelligence built for the energy procurement sector).

How does a bespoke intelligence platform build work?

A bespoke build typically starts with a brief conversation about the commercial opportunity: who is the audience, what dataset or domain expertise do you have, and what decision does the platform need to help users make? Open & Candid then designs the data architecture, builds the ingestion and cross-referencing pipeline, designs the UX and ships a working product. Timelines depend on complexity but most initial builds are live within 8-12 weeks.

What kind of data can be turned into a platform?

Any government-published, statutory or publicly licensed dataset can form the foundation of a platform , procurement data, regulatory registers, company records, land registries, environmental data, planning records, charity registers, electoral data and more. The commercial value typically comes from combining multiple datasets and adding a cross-referencing layer that no single dataset provides alone.

Bespoke Builds

We build intelligence platforms
to order.

OC Political, OC Corporate and OC Brethren aren't just products , they're proof of what we can build. If you have a dataset, a domain expertise or a commercial opportunity, we can turn it into a subscription intelligence platform. We handle the data engineering, the cross-referencing, the UX and the infrastructure.

Discuss a build → See what we've built

All enquiries treated in strict confidence · We work with organisations of all sizes

The proposition

Government data is rich.
Most of it is commercially useless , until it's combined.

The UK government publishes vast amounts of data , contracts, company records, land registries, energy registers, planning applications, charity accounts, electoral data. Each dataset has value. The real commercial value comes from combining datasets that were never designed to talk to each other and wrapping the result in a purpose-built interface for a specific professional audience.

That is what we do. We identify the combination, build the pipeline, design the product and ship it. You bring the domain expertise and the audience , we bring the engineering and the platform.

Data engineering

We ingest, clean and structure data from government APIs, bulk datasets and statutory registers , building automated pipelines that keep the platform current.

Cross-referencing layer

The intelligence value comes from linking datasets , seeing that a company donated to a party, won a contract and appears in an MP's interests. We build that layer into every platform.

Purpose-built UX

We design the interface for the specific professional who will use it , not a generic dashboard, but a tool that reflects how that person actually works.

Subscription infrastructure

Stripe billing, user authentication, access controls and hosting on Cloudflare , all included. The platform is production-ready and commercially operable from launch day.

How it works

From brief to live platform
in weeks, not months.

Brief

A conversation about the opportunity , the audience, the dataset, the commercial model, what a user needs to be able to do. We'll tell you what's possible and what it takes to build it.

Architecture

We design the data pipeline, the cross-referencing logic and the UX architecture. You review and approve before any code is written. No surprises at launch.

Build

We build the ingestion pipeline, the database, the search layer, the interface and the billing infrastructure. Most initial builds are live within 8–12 weeks.

Launch & iterate

We deploy on Cloudflare Pages with Supabase and Stripe. After launch, we iterate based on how real users use the product , every feature earns its place.

What's possible

The datasets that can
become platforms.

Any government-published, statutory or licensed dataset can form the foundation of a platform. The value comes from the combination and the commercial layer on top.

Environment Agency

ESOS / Energy Registers

Large energy users, compliance status, consumption and savings potential , cross-referenced with financials for energy procurement targeting.

Planning Portal / LPAs

Planning Intelligence

Planning applications, approvals, refusals and conditions , cross-referenced with land ownership and company data for property developers and consultants.

NHS / CQC / NHSEI

Healthcare Procurement

NHS contract awards, CQC registration data and trust financial data , combined for suppliers selling into the healthcare sector.

FCA / Companies House

Financial Services Intelligence

FCA register cross-referenced with company ownership, charges and directors , for compliance teams, law firms and M&A advisors.

Registers of Scotland / HMLR

Property Network Intelligence

Land ownership mapped to corporate structures, planning history and market data , for property investors, developers and estate agents.

Proprietary research

Specialist Sector Platforms

If you have domain expertise and a defined audience, your proprietary dataset combined with public records can become a defensible commercial product , as OC Brethren demonstrates.

Get in touch

Tell us what
you're thinking.

You don't need a fully formed brief. If you have a commercial idea, a dataset you think is under-exploited, or an audience you want to serve better, we'll help you work out whether there's a platform in it.

All conversations are in strict confidence. We work with organisations of all sizes , from individual domain experts with a proprietary dataset to companies looking to build internal intelligence tools.

info@openandcandid.com

We typically respond within one business day

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What are you looking to build?

Tell us about your idea

All enquiries treated in confidence. We'll respond within one business day.

Questions

Common questions

What kind of platforms can you build?

Any web-based intelligence platform that combines government, statutory or public datasets with a commercial use case. We have built political finance intelligence (OC Political), company intelligence (OC Corporate), specialist network intelligence (OC Brethren) and energy user intelligence (OC ESOS). The common thread is: a defined professional audience, a specific dataset or combination of datasets, and a commercial model , usually subscription, sometimes data licensing or access fees.

How long does a bespoke build take?

Most initial builds , a working platform with core search, data ingestion, subscription billing and user authentication , are live within 8–12 weeks. More complex platforms with multiple datasets, network visualisations or custom analytics take longer. We work iteratively: a focused v1 ships fast, then features are added based on real user behaviour rather than assumptions.

Do I need to bring the data?

Not necessarily. Many of the most valuable datasets are publicly available , we know where to find them, how to ingest them and how to keep them current. If you have proprietary data to combine with public sources, that is often where the strongest competitive moat lies. We will advise on the data architecture as part of the initial conversation.

Who owns the platform after it's built?

Ownership arrangements depend on the commercial structure agreed. We are open to build-and-hand-over, ongoing partnership, revenue share and white-label models. We will discuss the options as part of the brief and agree terms before any build begins. We are transparent about how we work and flexible about how we structure relationships.

What technology stack do you use?

Our core stack: Supabase (PostgreSQL database, authentication, row-level security), Cloudflare Pages + Workers (hosting, edge functions, API proxy), Stripe (subscription billing), and vanilla HTML/CSS/JavaScript for the frontend. This combination gives us fast deployment, low ongoing infrastructure cost, global CDN performance and a proven billing layer. For data ingestion we use Google Apps Script, Python and direct API connections depending on the source.

We build intelligence platformsto order.

Government data is rich.Most of it is commercially useless , until it's combined.

Every product we sellstarted as a bespoke build.

From brief to live platformin weeks, not months.

The datasets that canbecome platforms.

Tell us whatyou're thinking.