Acquisitions/transactions
Marketing research technology company PureSpectrum has acquired consumer insights company Instant Insights from Upwave.
Marketing research and advisory company Savanta has acquired youth research specialist YouthSight.
Buyer intelligence platform provider Demand Science has acquired two companies: Internal Results, a demand generation platform, and Leadiro, a B2B data intelligence company.
Digital advertising and marketing services company S4Capital will combine MightyHive with Raccoon Group, a digital performance agency based in Brazil.
B2B go-to-market solutions provider Demandbase has acquired InsideView, a sales and marketing intelligence company, and DemandMatrix, a provider of technographic data and intelligence.
Enterprise AI platform DataRobot has acquired Zepl, a cloud data science and analytics platform.
Social media advertising company Smartly.io has acquired ad creative insights provider Viralspace.ai.
Data solutions company Kochava has acquired DigiCenter, a provider of identity and cross-device graph data.
Location data company Foursquare has acquired geospatial analytics platform Unfolded.
DialogTech, a call-tracking and analytics solution, has acquired conversation intelligence company Invoca.
Eye-tracking technology company Smart Eye has agreed to acquire emotion-detection startup Affectiva for $73.5 million.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
Community specialist Tribes Research and data company Syno International have entered a partnership agreement to offer a combined solution.
Marketing research and public opinion specialist Ipsos has won a radio audience measurement survey contract through the Broadcast Research Council of South Africa.
Consumer insights platform HubUX and marketing research company FastFocus have partnered to launch an end-to-end agile market research solution.
Data analytics and consumer intelligence company J.D. Power and Corporate Insight, a provider of digital experience research to the health care industry, have formed a strategic alliance to bring peerless digital experience research to the health care market.
Consumer insights company Cuebiq is partnering with the Ad Council and COVID Collaborative to measure the initiative “It’s Up To You,” created to educate Americans about the COVID-19 vaccines.
Rybbon, a digital rewards management platform, has partnered with insights community company Krealinks to integrate points-to-rewards with the latter’s community management platform.
Customer insights platform Canvs has been chosen by customer agency C Space to automate the latter’s research processes.
Association/organization news
The Marketing Research Education Foundation will hold the Race Around the World for Education, a 25,000-mile virtual race over the month of June to help educate children across the globe. Ninety percent of the funds raised will benefit UNICEF’s work in education worldwide. To learn more and to register, click here.
Quirk’s Media announced that The Quirk’s Event – London has changed dates and will now take place October 13-14, 2021. To learn more, click here.
The Market Research Society (MRS) has awarded Phyllis Macfarlane its Gold Medal in recognition of her contribution to market and social research. Additionally, MRS has announced the latest MRS Fellowships, which include:
- David Cahn
- Johnny Caldwell
- Rob Ellis
- Richard Ellwood
- James Endersby
- Ruth France
- Peter Furness
- Derek Jones
- Claire Labrum
- Tim Macer
- Caroline Noon
- Mark Thorpe
- Neil Wholey
- Trevor Wilkinson
New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions
Marketing and survey research company Nebu has been recognized as an ISO 9001-certified company through an independent audit by Certop, certifying that Nebu has introduced and is applying a quality management system that meets the requirements of ISO 9001:2015.
The Certification Institute for Research Quality, an International Standards Organization (ISO) audit and certification body that is a subsidiary of the Insights Association, has been certified by the ANSI National Accreditation Board for fulfilling the requirements of ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 in the field of management systems certification.
Ascribe, a verbatim analysis software and service company, has expanded operations in the EU with the addition of a new data center based in Germany.
Data analytics and research company IRI has launched the IRI Diversity Advantage Program, an IRI employee volunteer-led program that provides pro bono services to minority- and women-owned consumer packaged goods companies.
Linguistic agency Global Accent Translation Services has opened an office in Belgium.
Research and cultural insights agency Beyond the Narrative is celebrating its first year in business.
Research company earnings/financial news
Indonesia-based consumer insights platform Populix has raised US$1.2 million in pre-Series A funding led by Intudo Ventures with participation from Quest Ventures and others.
Consumer insights platform OnePulse has secured £2 million in funding led by Blackfinch and followed by Nexus Investments.
Crayon, a competitive intelligence platform for enterprises, has raised $22 million in Series B financing led by Baird Capital with participation from Baseline Ventures, Bedrock Capital, C&B Capital and Oyster Funds.
Digital customer engagement platform Airkit has raised $40 million in a Series B funding round led by EQT Ventures along with Accel, Emergence Capital, Salesforce Ventures and others.
Customer and user experience platform WEVO grew 290% year-over-year in Q1 of 2021. Additionally, the company has made nine new hires in 2021 to support business development, strategic partnerships and customer success.
External data platform Explorium has closed a $75 million Series C funding round led by Insight Partners with participation from Zeev Ventures, Emerge, F2 Venture Capital, 01 Advisors and Dynamic Loop Capital.
Analytics and subscription platform Piano has raised $88 million in a funding round led by Updata Partners with supporting investments from Rittenhouse Ventures and LinkedIn Corporation.
Advertising technology company VideoAmp Inc. has raised $75 million in funding and has tapped Paul Ross as chief financial officer.
Klaviyo, a customer data and marketing automation platform, has raised $320 million in Series D funding led by Sands Capital with participation from Counterpoint Global, Whale Rock Capital Management, ClearBridge Investments, Lone Pine Capital, Owl Rock Capital, Glynn Capital, Keith Block, Accel and Summit Partners.
Knowledge management solution Lucy has raised $3 million in Series A financing led by Dallas Venture Capital.