Acquisitions/transactions
PeopleMetrics and Center for Strategy Research (CSR) have merged their business operations to offer a unified customer experience and research solution to the enterprise market. PeopleMetrics will acquire CSR’s assets, people and client contracts, and the merged business will operate under the PeopleMetrics brand.
Data platform Advocado has acquired Kantar's ad verification business BVS.
MeritB2B, a provider of B2B data, analytics and performance marketing solutions, has acquired demand generation company True Influence.
Risk assessment firm Moody’s Corporation has acquired PassFort Limited and entered into an agreement to acquire 360kompany AG, two European providers of onboarding and know your customer technology solutions.
Data and insights platform Dynata has acquired Ameritest, a brand and advertising research consultancy.
Media planning company Telmar has acquired audience intelligence platform Helixa. As a part of the acquisition, Helixa CEO Florian Kahlert will join Telmar’s executive team.
Data and analytics group YouGov has acquired Swiss market and social research company LINK Marketing Services AG.
NielsenIQ has acquired Paris-based research company Foxintelligence.
Data platform Dynata has acquired 0ptimus Analytics, an AI and machine learning data science and technology company.
Data-driven health care marketing firm Engage has been acquired by Fingerpaint.
Digital marketing agency Brainlabs has acquired social advertising agency and creative studio Consumer Acquisition.
Marketing research company Suzy has acquired beauty research platform Poshly. Doreen Bloch, CEO of Poshly, joins Suzy as VP of audience management.
Innovation agency Nesta has acquired Behavioural Insights Team in a £15.4 million deal.
Media measurement company Comscore has acquired Shareablee, a marketing analytics and measurement company in the social media space.
Numerator, a data and tech company serving the market research space, has acquired mobile qualitative survey company HatchTank.
Marketing research agency InSites Consulting has acquired cultural and creative consultancy Space Doctors.
Database management company Oracle has acquired Cerner, a provider of digital information systems used within hospitals and health systems.
IDG Communications Inc., a provider of technology media, data and marketing services, has acquired Canadian-based B2B sales intelligence platform LeadSift.
SQream, an Israel-based data analytics platform, has acquired no-code data platform Panoply.
Mastercard has agreed to acquire McDonald’s personalization platform and decision engine company, Dynamic Yield.
Commerce media platform Criteo has entered into exclusive negotiations to acquire ad tech company IPONWEB.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
Data and insights company Pureprofile has formed a partnership with technology provider Cint.
CX and research tech company Forsta and voice technology provider Phebi.AI have partnered to offer Phebi’s voice analysis tech across qualitative and quantitative research programs on Forsta’s insights technology platform.
Voxco, a provider of omnichannel survey software for data collection and analysis, has partnered with API-driven sample platform Zamplia to launch Voxco Audience, a fully automated market research platform.
Lucid, a provider of programmatic research technology, has formed a multi-year agreement with consumer research platform Attest.
Association/organization news
The Advertising Research Foundation and the NYU School of Professional Studies have developed and launched the ARF Certificate in Marketing Optimization and Insights. The program will commence during the spring 2022 semester.
Awards/rankings
Forsta, a CX and research technology company, has been named a leader in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Voice of the Customer.
The Market Research Society (MRS) has announced the winners of the MRS Awards 2021. The winners were honored via a virtual ceremony on December 6, 2021.
The Dieringer Research Group Inc. was named a winner of the 2021 Wisconsin MARKETPLACE Governor’s Award for Outstanding Large Businesses in the category representing women-owned business enterprises.
Alchemer, a provider of CX and VoC technology, announced that G2.com has awarded the company’s enterprise feedback platform the Best Meets Requirements, Fastest Implementation, Easiest Setup, Easiest Admin and Easiest to Use awards in the G2 Reports for Winter 2022.
Technology provider Cint has acquired online marketing research company Lucid.
New accounts/projects/certifications
CIRQ, an International Standards Organization audit and certification body that is a subsidiary of the Insights Association, has certified marketing research company reckner to the ISO 27001 standard for information security.
CIRQ, an International Standards Organization (ISO) audit and certification body that is a subsidiary of the Insights Association, has awarded certification to InStar Research, Medefield and RxY, business units of P\S\L Group, for compliance to information security standard ISO 27001.
New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions
Stagwell has merged its businesses UNION and 6 Degrees to launch its creative commerce agency DonerNorth in Canada.
HealthChampion, a digital health analytics and data management company, has rebranded to Calcium.
Professional development company Ivy Exec has launched a dedicated B2B market research division under the name Ivy Insights.
Research company earnings/financial news
WATI.io, a WhatsApp customer engagement tool for small businesses, has raised $8.3 million in Series A funding led by Sequoia Capital India with participation from Surge, Base Partners and several angel investors.
Health care data analytics firm Embold Health has raised $20 million in a Series B funding round led by Echo Health Ventures.