Acquisitions/transactions
WALR, a data collection solutions provider, has acquired marketing research company QuenchTec.
Capillary Technologies, a customer loyalty and customer engagement solutions provider, has acquired Minneapolis-based customer experience company Persuade.
Accenture has agreed to acquire King James Group, a creative agency based in South Africa.
InMoment, a provider of customer and employee experience solutions, has acquired data analytics company Lexalytics.
The Business Post Group, a digital services company, has acquired marketing research and polling company RED C Research.
ZoomInfo, a provider of go-to-market intelligence solutions, has acquired data quality management platform RingLead.
Ad and innovation testing platform Zappi has acquired Chicago-based startup Data Quorum.
Marketing research and polling company Ipsos has agreed to acquire software and digital services provider Infotools.
Marketing research technology provider quantilope has acquired U.K.-based video research company Plotto.
Data and research services company Schlesinger Group has fully integrated Market Cube, 20|20 Research and Addison Research under the Schlesinger Group brand.
Digital experience consultancy Bounteous has acquired Lister Digital, a digital transformation consultancy.
STRAT7, a marketing and customer analytics company, has acquired strategic consultancy Incite.
NielsenIQ, a provider of measurement and data analytics, has acquired Data Impact and Rakuten Intelligence.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
Data analytics and marketing research company IRI has formed a partnership with Banyan, a fintech infrastructure startup, to provide IRI’s retailer clients with a view of consumer shopping habits and opportunities to generate new revenue streams.
Research execution company The Logit Group has partnered with NeoCurrency, an incentive provider in the marketing research space, to customize the way in which Logit offers incentives to panelists and survey respondents.
Möbius Business Design has joined the Alida Partner Network to deliver customer experience and insights to organizations in Belgium, France and the Netherlands.
Insights and consulting company Kantar has integrated its TGI consumer survey data with audience insights from out-of-home measurement body Route in a new joint platform.
Audience intelligence platform Helixa has partnered with audience insight company GWI (GlobalWebIndex), to launch a joint initiative to integrate consumer predictive insights with expressed consumer intent.
WPP and Snap Inc. have launched an augmented reality partnership, The AR Lab, to deliver marketing and commerce solutions for brands.
Association/organization news
ESOMAR and the Global Research Business Network have released two new complementary guidelines for primary data collection and duty of care that further strengthen ethical standard framework to be used by their respective memberships. Learn more.
The Insights Association has released findings from a recent survey on mental well-being in the insights community showing that burnout and exhaustion levels have spiked among U.S. marketing researchers. Read more.
The Market Research Institute International, in conjunction with the University of Georgia, has expanded its Qualitative Market Research Principles Express course to incorporate topics such as usability research, creating moderator guides, new advances in data gathering and analysis and more.
Awards/rankings
The Marketing Research and Insight Excellence Awards, powered by Quirk’s Media, have announced the 2021 award finalists. The Awards recognize the researchers, suppliers and products and services that are adding value and impact to marketing research. Finalists are selected by a panel of judges made up of a combination of end-client researchers, supplier partners and Quirk’s editorial staff. The award winners and finalists will be celebrated during a virtual ceremony on November 9 at 1 p.m. ET. A full list of the finalists is available at quirksawards.com/finalists. To register for the awards ceremony, click here.
Research agency Versiti has been named the winner of the MRS Impact 2021 Audience Award for “A Question of Privilege: When Older White, Middle-Class Researchers Are Not Right For The Job,” presented by Marie-Claude Gervais, Cynthia Ko, Shae Eccleston, Amarah Khan and Lucas Rehman.
Marketing research platform Methodify by Delvinia has ranked No. 32 out of 448 on the 2021 Report on Business ranking of Canada’s Top Growing Companies.
New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions
20|20 Research has rebranded as Schlesinger Group following its acquisition last year.
Consumer research and sensory agency MMR Research has opened a headquarters in Amsterdam.
Reid Campbell Group, parent firm of Rival Technologies and Reach3 Insights, has rebranded to the Rival Group Inc.
mCube has rebranded as Movella, a provider of solutions for sensing, capturing and analyzing movement data.
London-based consulting and marketing research firm Day One Strategy has opened its first U.S. office.
Research company earnings/financial news
Fashion analytics and insights software firm Omnilytics will acquire and partner with data labelling platform Supahands, in a deal valued at $20 million.
Data and AI company Databricks has raised $1.6 billion in a Series H round of funding led by Counterpoint Global with participation from new investors Baillie Gifford, ClearBridge Investments and UC Investments as well as existing investors.
Revenue Grid, a revenue operations and intelligence platform, has closed $20 million in Series A funding led by W3 Capital, with participation from ICU Ventures and existing investors.
Lynk, a "knowledge-as-a-service" platform, has expanded its Series B round to include new funding from UBS’s Investment Bank business division, which brings funding to date up to $35 million.
Insight consultancy STRAT7 ResearchBods has reported 26% revenue growth for the financial period July 2020 to June 2021.
Data and insights platform Yabble has closed a funding round totaling NZ$3 million. The round was led by Hillfarrance with participation from Movac, New Zealand Growth Capital Partners, Enterprise Angels, other angel networks and individuals.
Discuss.io, a video platform for customer insights, reached a 63% increase in revenue for H1 2021 compared to H1 2020. Additionally, Stan Sthanunathan has become an advisor to the company’s board of directors.
Analytics startup Viable has raised $3.9 million in pre-seed and seed funding led by Craft Ventures and Javelin Venture Partners, respectively.