Acquisitions/transactions
Marketing research and data analytics company MarketCast has acquired Invoke, a research and content testing platform.
Marketing and consumer insights platform Prodege has acquired mobile-first survey platform Pollfish.
Norstat, a data collector for marketing research in Northern Europe, has agreed to acquire Nordic data collection company Userneeds.
European data collector Norstat has acquired Oslo-headquartered data collection provider Polling & Statistics.
Marketing research agency Savanta has acquired MindSpark Research International, an MR agency focused on user experience and qualitative insights.
Press Ganey, a provider of health care experience analytics, announced its plans to acquire Forsta, a provider of customer experience and marketing research technology. The transaction is expected to close in the first or second calendar quarter of 2022 and is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
Audience insights company Wicket Labs has been acquired by Brightcove Inc., a provider of cloud services for video.
IDG Communications Inc. has acquired Selling Simplified, a marketing-as-a-service platform that provides lead generation products, data services and analytics.
Business intelligence group Informa has agreed to sell its Pharma Intelligence business to Warburg Pincus for £1.9 billion, while separately commencing a share buyback.
Online visibility management SaaS platform Semrush plans to acquire competitive intelligence automation and sales enablement platform Kompyte.
LinkedIn has entered into an agreement to acquire Oribi, an Israel-based marketing analytics company.
Voice AI transcription developer Verbit has acquired U.K. market research transcription and captioning service Take Note for an undisclosed sum.
MR firm Research Partnership has been acquired by health care services firm Ashfield. The company will become part of Ashfield’s advisory and consulting division Ashfield Advisory.
Brand commerce platform PriceSpider has acquired Amsterdam-based SaaS company Hatch.
Separately, Ipsos has acquired Canada-based mystery shopping firm We Check.
The NHL’s Buffalo Sabres have chosen customer experience platform provider Alida to gather customer feedback to inform business decisions and enhance the fan experience.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
EMI Research Solutions has partnered with Ag Access, an agricultural research specialist, to become the exclusive reseller agent of their specialty agricultural community. Through this partnership, EMI and its clients will be able to leverage Ag Access’ community of over 400,000 agricultural sector professionals.
Data analytics and marketing research company IRI has formed a strategic partnership with Associated Wholesale Grocers Inc. to launch AWG Partner Gateway, a portal to enable collaboration between AWG members and their vendor partners using IRI Liquid Data.
Online sample and research consultancy EMI Research Solutions has partnered with Vancery, a B2B professional exchange, as the exclusive selling agent of Vancery’s specialty B2B community.
Nielsen and Experian announced an expanded strategic initiative to enhance identity data in the U.S. for digital measurement of the open web. Experian marketing data assets will enhance the Nielsen Identity System by providing persistent IDs for open web measurement, increasing coverage and interoperability by supporting audience measurement across screens and devices that are consistent and comparable.
Nielsen and Cox Media Group announced a multi-year renewal agreement for television and audio measurement services covering Cox Media Group local television stations in 10 full-service television markets and Cox Media Group local radio stations in 10 full-service radio markets. The agreement also includes the CoxReps network of media professionals.
Alchemer (formerly SurveyGizmo) announced that Amdocs, a software and services provider to communications and media organizations, uses Alchemer to deliver its voice-of-the-customer program.
Data, insights and media organization Pureprofile has added OpinionRoute’s data security solution CleanID to its operations.
Landlord review platform WhoseYourLandlord has selected the Canvs AI insight platform to power analysis of resident reviews on its site.
Consumer Goods Technology reports that Kraft Heinz is building a proprietary tech ecosystem called Kraft-O-Matic using in-house tools to help synthesize data across the enterprise. The company has teamed with Google Cloud for a multi-year strategic partnership it expects to improve consumer understanding and personalization.
Association/organization news
The Qualitative Research Consultants Association (QRCA) is honoring the life and memory of Lloyd J. Harris, a pioneer in African American and LGBT market research, with the Lloyd J. Harris Memorial Scholarship Fund. The scholarship enables QRCA members in the first five years of their qualitative research career to receive complimentary formal moderation training at either the RIVA Market Research and Training Institute or Burke Institute.
Awards/rankings
Entries for the 2022 Research Got Talent Award have officially opened. The competition is an initiative of the Australian Data and Insights Association (ADIA) and the ESOMAR Foundation and encourages young professionals to use market research and insights to support local charities and NGOs to overcome pressing social issues. The judges are looking for projects that address a prominent social issue and have the potential to make changes to the charity they support. Entry is open to young research professionals aged 18-35, who are employees of an ADIA member organization or work for an Australian-based ESOMAR member. The winner will attend the ADIA Leaders Forum Conference in May 2022 and is entered into ESOMAR’s global competition to present their work at the ESOMAR Congress on September 18-21. Entries close on April 4 and the winners will be announced on May 6.
Delineate announced it has been ranked 126 in the top 1,000 fastest-growing companies in Europe, according to the latest Financial Times FT 1000 list.
Software company Arcitecta announced that its data management platform Mediaflux received the Most Complete Solution and Best Software Architecture award from the International Data Mover Challenge at the recent Supercomputing Asia 2022 event. Arcitecta was also recognized for its work in accelerating high-speed data transfer across global networks.
New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions
Rare Patient Voice LLC, a marketing research patient recruitment firm, has expanded its patient and caregiver panel to include Australia and New Zealand.
Behavioral insights consultancy Behaviorally has expanded its APAC presence to Australia.
Marketing research company Opinions LTD has opened a CLT and focus facility in Las Vegas.
Marketing research and insights platform PureSpectrum has expanded to France.
BOL News reports that Mastercard has announced the expansion of its new interactive business intelligence platform Mastercard Market Trends in the Middle East and Africa.
Two new departments and two new research centers have been inaugurated at the International Institute for Population Sciences in Mumbai that will focus on the well-being of different population groups and newer methods of big data analysis. The new departments are the Department of Survey Research and Data Analytics and the Department of Family and Generations. The new centers are called the Center of Demography of Gender and the Center for Aging Studies.
Research company earnings/financial news
Audience insights company GWI has raised over $180 million in Series B funding led by Permira’s growth fund.
Data collection company Veridata Insights has reported 150% year-over-year revenue growth for 2021 and has added 15 staff members to its team.
Ad and innovation platform Zappi reached $50 million in sales in 2021, representing more than 30% growth over the previous year.
Birdie, an AI-powered SaaS platform for product lifecycle management, has raised $7 million in new seed-round funding led by SoftBank Latin America Fund and Illuminate Ventures, with additional participation from Fusion Fund, Astella and Endeavor Catalyst. As part of the funding, Marco Camhaji, managing partner of early-stage investments at SoftBank Latin America Fund, and Cindy Padnos, founder and managing partner, Illuminate Ventures, will both join the Birdie board of directors.
RudderStack, a customer data platform for developers, has raised $56 million in Series B funding led by Insight Ventures with support from Kleiner Perkins and S28 Capital.
Consumer insights platform Toluna reported double-digit growth for the fifth consecutive year, with its enterprise business recording an 18% increase in 2021
Branch, a cross-platform solution for mobile linking and attribution, has secured $300 million in funding led by NEA.
Nielsen Holdings plc announced fourth-quarter and full-year 2021 results. For the full year, revenues increased 4.1% on a reported basis, 3.4% on a constant currency basis and 4.9% on an organic constant currency basis, above guidance. Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EPS exceeded the guidance range, and free cash flow was at the high end of the guidance range. Nielsen also announced a $1 billion share repurchase authorization.
Consumer intelligence firm Resonate reported record growth throughout 2021, with 49% growth in its SaaS business and 83% growth in its managed services revenue compared to the prior year.
TransUnion has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Verisk Financial Services, the financial services business unit of Verisk, for $515 million, which will be funded with cash on hand.
Comscore has reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2021. In Q4 2021 financial highlights: revenue was $96.5 million compared to $90 million in Q4 2020; net income was $2.9 million compared to a net loss of $13.2 million in Q4 2020; adjusted EBITDA was $12.4 million compared to $9.4 million in Q4 2020. In full-year 2021 highlights: revenue was $367 million compared to $356 million in 2020; the net loss was $50 million compared to $47.9 million in 2020; adjusted EBITDA was $31.9 million compared to $32.3 million in 2020; cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash was $22.3 million versus $50.7 million as of December 31, 2020.
Consumer insights platform QualSights announced that it achieved record growth by growing its revenue by 20x over the last three years and doubling its team over the last year.
Ipsos reported second-quarter 2021 growth of 52.3% compared to the same period in 2020 when lockdowns began. Overall organic growth was 17.9%. Compared to 2019, which the company regards as a more “normal” period, Ipsos grew by 10.4%. In the sole fourth quarter, organic growth was close to 5%, with the company reporting its order book for 2022 was 15% higher than at the end of 2021, making it “confident” for 2022.