Acquisitions/transactions  

Analytics company ThoughtSpot has agreed to acquire business intelligence platform Mode Analytics. 

Information services company GfK has entered an agreement to sell its European Consumer Panel business to research and data analytics group YouGov. 

Research agency Motivaction has acquired retail consultancy firm Bureau RMC.

Mobile Digital Insights has acquired a majority stake in research agency Insightek.

Travel and hospitality marketing firm MMGY Global has acquired TCI Research to improve its travel intelligence capabilities and to expand its European footprint.

Digital market research agency Potentia Insight has acquired data analytics firm SigDiff Limited.

Silver Lake and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board have completed the acquisition of experience management software company Qualtrics.

Consumer intelligence company NielsenIQ and information services company GfK have completed their strategic combination. The transaction combines their capabilities to offer clients a suite of comprehensive solutions. 

Kantar Public has acquired European policy research and consultancy PPMI to improve offerings across the public policy advisory and evaluation, data and analytics and behavioral and communications sectors.  

Quantitative insights and health data analytics provider Cytel has acquired research and consulting firm stève consultants to expand its real-world and advanced analytics capabilities. 

Ipsos has acquired insights business Big Village Australia to improve its capabilities in the government and social sectors and its customer and employee experience. 

Brand-to-demand marketing consultancy Gravity Global has acquired marketing agency 9thWonder. 

Testing software development company Tricentis has acquired mobile test automation platform Waldo to expand its mobile testing offerings.    

Ipsos has acquired market research company Omedia from media audience measurement company Médiamétrie. 

Market research data collection company Norstat has acquired data collection agency Panelbase to improve its position in Western Europe and to expand its panel capacity. 

Alliances/strategic partnerships 

Technology platform FreeWheel has partnered with audience research company MediaScience to launch The Viewer Experience Lab for the TV advertising industry.  

Data and insights company Pureprofile has created an Audience Builder partnership with financial services company Prograd to expand its research panel in Europe and to offer Gen Z respondents rewards for answering surveys. 

The Market Research Institute International and KNow Research have launched a program to award grants to female founders in the insights industry. 

Tillamook has adopted insights platform Canvs AI to add AI capabilities to its consumer and market insights team.  

ENV Media has partnered with Ken Research to conduct surveys and case studies analyzing gambling behavior in India. 

Customer experience management consultancy TAP CXM has partnered with marketing automation specialist Craft CXM and has appointed Sam Taverner as chief growth officer. 

Incentives, rewards and payment solutions company Virtual Incentives has created a strategic partnership with panel management platform SampleNinja to improve payout delivery.  

Media investment analysis company Ebiquity has partnered with consumer behavior data company ViewersLogic to integrate insights from ViewersLogic’s Single-Source Data Panel and to optimize media investments.

Association/organization news 

The Marketing Research Education Foundation will host the 2023 Backpack Challenge Readathon July 17 through August 31. The industry fundraiser aims to send 1,000+ backpacks with essential school supplies to underprivileged children in the U.S. To learn more or to donate visit www.backpackchallenge.org. 

ESOMAR has launched an AI task force to address the use of AI in the research, insights and analytics sector.

ESOMAR and the World Association for Public Opinion Research have published The Freedom to Conduct and Publish Opinion Polls report. 

Awards/rankings 

Data and analytics consultancy Cynozure has been certified as a B Corporation. 

Data and analytics company Cynozure has been named in The Sunday Times 100, Britain’s fastest-growing private companies, for the second consecutive year. 

Marketing research firm KS&R recently celebrated its 40th anniversary.

Insights firm Burke has received the ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification for information security. 

ESOMAR has named the winners of the 2023 Insight250 awards. To see the full list visit insight250.com. 

Red C Research and Marketing recently celebrated its 20th anniversary.

New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions  

Insights and analytics firm SG Analytics has opened an office in Wroclaw, Poland. 

Bastion Insights has launched Golden Voice Community, an Australian research panel for culturally and linguistically diverse communities.  

Marketing research data collection company AfrikanInsights has launched in Lagos, Nigeria.

Reputation and policy management consultancy Sandpiper Group has launched Sandpiper Research & Insights, a research firm specializing in supporting communications and public affairs practitioners led by Craig Young as interim managing director.

Research company earnings/financial news 

Marketing automation software Upp has raised $10 million in seed funding led by Bonfire Ventures.

Sponsorship measurement and valuation platform MVP Index has raised $20 million in its Series B funding round led by Verance Capital.  

Customer experience solutions provider EdgeTier has raised €6 million in its Series A round of funding led by Smedvig Capital.

Customer data platform Distil.Ai has raised £1.1 million in its funding round led by Mercia Ventures.  

Customer data platform Lantern has raised $6.8 million in its seed funding round led by Primary Ventures and Moxxie Ventures. 

Thayer Ventures has invested $3 million in data science company Resilient Solutions 21.

Analytics and data visualization tool Prospective has raised $6 million in its seed funding round led by Point72 Ventures.  

Business intelligence platform for Shopify brands Polar Analytics has raised $9 million in its Series A round of funding. 

Ipsos has released its first-half results reporting revenue of €1,087.1 million, down 3.1% from last year. It also reported an organic decline of 1% in the EMEA region, 3% in the Americas and an organic growth of 3% in the APAC region. 

Customer intelligence platform Insight7 has closed its pre-seed round of funding led by Forum Ventures. 

Retail space planning and performance analytics software Nuqleous has received a $26 million strategic growth investment from Blue Ladder Capital.