Acquisitions/transactions
Communications agency CDS has acquired behavioral research firm SimpleUsability.
Marketing solutions provider Vya has acquired customer and data analytics firm Direct Options.
Australian-based Taverner Research has acquired full-service solutions organization IRIS Research.
Credit reporting agency TransUnion has acquired data management platform Tru Optik.
Software corporation SAP has agreed to acquire Emarsys, an omnichannel customer engagement platform provider.
Data and analytics provider IRI has acquired Retail Solutions Inc., a provider of supply chain solutions for CPG manufacturers and retailers.
Eye-tracking company Tobii AB has agreed to sell Smartbox to CareTech, a provider of specialized social services for adults and children with special needs.
Market research solutions company Paradigm Sample has acquired Tellwut, a Canadian online panel and survey programming company.
Cloud communication company Twilio has agreed to acquire customer data platform Segment.
Insights platform UserTesting has acquired the technology assets of usabiliTEST, a provider of information architecture testing solutions.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
Marketing researcher Fuel Cycle has added Redmond, Wash.-based Course5 Intelligence to its exchange ecosystem as a partner.
Integration platform Socialgist has formed a partnership with Tumblr to allow deep data access to the blog platform's communities.
Media measurement company Comscore has partnered with data management platform Tru Optik to launch new streaming behavior segments, which are available in Tru Optik's data marketplace.
The Qualitative Research Consultants Association (QRCA) and digital incentives platform Rybbon have formed a partnership, which offers QRCA members new benefits as a result.
Experience management provider Service Management Group (SMG) and video feedback platform Voxpopme have formed a partnership which gives SMG’s clients the ability to capture self-recorded videos from customers.
Research services and data collection company Schlesinger and marketing researcher Delvinia have partnered to launch Amplify, a 24-hour virtual insights event.
Alida, a customer experience management (CXM) and insights platform, has partnered with data analytics company Stratifyd to integrate the latter's analytics engine into Alida's CXM platform.
Service Management Group, a customer, patient and employee experience management company, has partnered with digital experience platform FullStory.
Stamford, Conn.-based Tru Optik has partnered with political data firm TargetSmart to expand audience targeting across connected TV and streaming audio.
Rare Patient Voice (RPV), a provider of patient-focused recruiting, and voice research company inVibe Labs have partnered to bring together RPV’s patients and caregivers to share their experiences through inVibe’s Automated Voice Response platform. These voices will then become available on a new website, ThePatientVoice.com.
Online sample provider EMI Research Solutions has partnered with data quality and anti- fraud software platform SampleChain, integrating the latter's capabilities into SWIFT, EMI’s sample management platform.
Awards/rankings
Alchemer, a provider of online survey software and tools, was awarded the 2020 Expert’s Choice award, as well as the Supreme Software and Great User Experience awards by FinancesOnline, a research platform for SaaS and B2B software.
Customer, product and employee experience company Confirmit has been named as a 2020 Customer Experience Innovation Award winner by media company TMC.
New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions
Consumer insights agency InSites Consulting has brought its U.K. branch Join the Dots under the InSites Consulting name.
Research consultancy Yonder has launched, bringing together Populus, BrandCap and Decidedly under one name. Populus Data Solutions has been renamed to Yonder Data Solutions and will continue to operate as a separate brand within Yonder.
Digital gifting platform Rybbon has launched its new agency program, Rybbon for Agencies, alongside its agency partners.
Rare Patient Voice, a provider of patient-focused recruiting, is expanding to Europe. Partnering with insight platform Q One Tech, Rare Patient Voice has launched recruiting efforts in the U.K. and is poised to expand into Germany, France, Spain and Italy as well.
Debby Schlesinger-Hellman has formed Elevare, a new firm designed to meet the developing needs of organizations.
Social listening consultancy Bakamo has opened an office in Washington, D.C. Two full-time employees have joined the new office, which will be led by Bakamo CEO Daniel Fazekas.
Customer experience company SurveyGizmo has changed its company name to Alchemer.
Former Research & Results organizers Heinrich Fischer and Simone Waller-Klink have founded succeet GmbH and will launch its first insights industry trade show, succeet21, as a hybrid event in April 2021.
Market research company Research America will now provide health and wellness consumer insights and trends following the acquisition of the Natural Marketing Institute.
Communications firm Edelman has launched its intelligence unit, Edelman Data and Intelligence (DxI), and has appointed Yannis Kotziagkiaouridis to lead the new unit.
Innovation consulting agency Ideas To Go has transitioned to a fully distributed work model, shifting away from physical office spaces.
The Australian Polling Council (APC) has launched with the aim of "advancing the quality and understanding of public opinion polling in Australia." The founding members of the APC are public opinion companies YouGov Galaxy, The Essential Research and Communications Group, uCommunication, Ipsos, Lonergan Research, Telereach and JWS Research.
Nielsen's Global Consumer Business will be renamed to NielsenIQ once it becomes a standalone company.
Research company earnings/financial news
Audio intelligence platform Veritonic has raised $3.2 million in a funding round led by Greycroft with participation from Lerer Hippeau, Audible and Newark Venture Partners.
Data analytics platform DataChat has closed $4 million in a seed funding round led by WRVI Capital and Nepenthe Capital.
Intelligence platform Streetbees has closed a $40 million Series B round led by Lakestar with participation from Latitude, Atomico, GMG Ventures and Octopus.
Consumer intelligence platform Toluna has completed a round of financing led by Verlinvest.