News notes
Thomas J. Turey, former controller of RTi Research, Stamford, Conn., was sentenced to 54 months in federal prison after pleading guilty on May 23 to wire fraud. In the seven-and-a-half years Turey was with RTi, he embezzled a total of $3,462,435.
Global market research revenue grew to $39.1 billion in 2012, representing 3.2 percent year-over-year increase, according to the ESOMAR Global Market Research Report 2013 from ESOMAR, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Acquisitions/transactions
New York researcher The Nielsen Company has completed its acquisition of Columbia, Md., research company Arbitron Inc. Arbitron will be rebranded Nielsen Audio and integrated into Nielsen’s U.S. Watch business segment.
Twitter, Palo Alto, Calif., has acquired Trendrr, a New York social media business intelligence platform. Twitter will adopt Curatorr, Trendrr’s Twitter-certified product designed to help improve the user experience and boost engagement.
Nuremberg, Germany, research company The GfK Group has made a strategic investment in Genius Digital, a U.K. media technology solutions provider. The agreement gives GfK’s clients access to Genius Digital’s data capture and collection technology, which will feed into GfK’s audience measurement services.
Chicago investment firm Thoma Bravo LLC has acquired San Mateo, Calif., research company Keynote for approximately $395 million. Keynote will remain headquartered in San Mateo and Jennifer Tejada will serve as CEO.
STW Communications Group Ltd., New South Wales, Australia, has acquired majority stake in Australia research company Colmar Brunton.
Montreal research company Leger has acquired Toronto research company IFOP North America.
IRI, a Chicago research company, has acquired Australia-based market measurement company Aztec from Aegis Media.
Portland, Ore., research company Rentrak Corp. has acquired New Rochelle, N.Y., research company iTVX.
Focus Pointe Global, a Philadelphia research company, has acquired St. Louis research company Delve, bringing Focus Pointe Global's total number of U.S. research facilities to 18. Duplicative Delve facilities in the Philadelphia and Dallas suburbs will be closed as leases expire.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
Research companies SDL, Maidenhead, U.K., and Webtrends, Portland, Ore., have partnered to integrate Webtrends’ analytics platform Webtrends Streams into the SDL Intelligent Marketing Suite.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, research company Pulsate has collaborated with Dell, Intel and Revolution Analytics to establish a Big Data Solutions Center in Malaysia.
IntelliQ Research and Strategy Inc., Cincinnati, has partnered with Get Satisfaction, a San Francisco online community provider. The alliance allows IntelliQ to provide market research and analytics services to Get Satisfaction’s clients.
ORC International, a Princeton, N.J., research company, and MOSAIQ Market Intelligence Group, Fountain Hills, Ariz., have partnered to help clients streamline the new product idea and concept testing process.
Research companies Federated Sample, New Orleans, and Decipher Inc., Fresno, Calif., have integrated Federated Sample’s Fulcrum online sampling platform with Decipher’s Beacon survey and reporting platform.
Awards/rankings
The NPD Group Inc., a Port Washington, N.Y., research company, was named to the 2013 InformationWeek 500, a list of the top technology innovators in the U.S. NPD was recognized for its DecisionKey Web-based business intelligence tool.
ELQ Market Research Inc., Tinley Park, Ill., received the 2013 Best in QUEST Award from Shelton, Conn., research company SSI for creating the most engaging research experiences. The Best Mobile Survey Experience Award went to Wilke, an Odense, Denmark, research company.
Horsham, Pa., research company LRA Worldwide Inc. was named to the Inc. 500|5000 list of the fastest-growing U.S. companies, ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2009 to 2012.
New accounts/projects
U.K. parenting Web site Netmums has selected Surrey, U.K., research company EasyInsites to conduct advertising effectiveness research.
Nestlé Malaysia has adopted New York research company Millward Brown’s mobile-enabled tracking solution. Additionally, Millward Brown has added On Device Research, London, as a preferred provider for data collection via the mobile Internet in the AMAP region.
Vancouver, B.C., research company Vision Critical has partnered with the University of British Columbia (UBC) to launch the Open Minds Forum, a private online community created for UBC to engage with its students and alumni.
Nebu, a Uitgeest, Netherlands, research company, has integrated Stockholm, Sweden, research company Cint’s Cint Link solution into its Dub Interviewer research software, allowing Nebu clients access to Cint’s panel platform OpinionHUB.
A+E Networks LLC, New York, has selected Portland, Ore., research company Rentrak Corp.’s TV Essentials Polk and MasterCard product consumption data for six of its brands. Additionally, The Price Group, a Lubbock, Texas, advertising agency, has adopted Rentrak’s StationView Essentials television ratings service under a multi-year contract.
Full Circle Research, Washington, D.C.; Research Results, Fitchburg, Mass.; Solvero, Norrköping, Sweden; and Tribes Research, Surrey, U.K., have adopted Kinesis Panel from Kinesis Survey Technologies LLC, Austin, Texas.
London research company MESH has licensed the Beacon survey and reporting platform from Decrypt, the London branch of Fresno, Calif., research company Decipher Inc.
Additionally, Decrypt has made Gemany-based research technology company datab the official reseller of Beacon in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Australia Online Research, Sydney, Australia, has adopted New York advertising and media software and services company Telmar’s SurveyTime software for its Syndicated Australian Market Survey.
New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions
Mark Stapylton has established BrandPanorama Research and Consulting LLC in Rhinebeck, N.Y. The company is online at www.brandpanorama.com.
Evalueserve, a Gurgaon, India, research company, has opened an office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in the Emarat Atrium on Sheikh Zayed Rd.
Badgeville, a Redwood City, Calif., gamification company, has launched The Behavior Lab, a center designed to help businesses increase customer loyalty and employee engagement using behavior management and gamification techniques.
Cupertino, Calif., data management company BlueKai has opened a new London office and appointed Zuzanna Gierlinska as managing director, U.K.
Clarabridge, a Reston, Va., research software company has expanded its services into Latin America. Operating out of Miami, the Latin America team will focus on Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Peru and Chile.
Farmington, Conn., research company The Pert Group has relocated its London office to 154-160 Fleet St. Its phone number has changed but e-mail addresses will remain the same.
Psyma International Inc., a King of Prussia, Pa., research company, has opened a West Coast office in Pacifica, Calif. James Roberts will head the office.
Barcelona, Spain, research company Netquest has opened an office in New York.
Italian publishing organization Gruppo 24 Ore and Cielo Research, Formia, Italy, have partnered to launch HQ24 Insight Research, a market research division of Gruppo 24 Ore.
Westminster, Colo., research company Datalogix has opened a Chicago office.
SIS International Research, New York, has opened an office in Berlin, Germany, managed by Christoph Bodden-Brux.
SurveyHealthCare, a New York research company, has opened an office in Pocatello, Idaho, at 1155 Yellowstone Ave., Suite D. Jason Freeman will manage the office.
Accelerant Research, Charlotte, N.C., has opened a new focus group facility in Charlotte.
Research company earnings/financial news
Apmetrix, San Diego, has secured financing from Analytics Ventures, La Costa Investment Group and KI Investment Holdings LLC to accelerate subscriber growth prior to a Series A round in 2014.
Parse.ly, New York, has raised $5 million in a Series A funding round led by Grotech Ventures with participation from Blumberg Capital, ff Venture Capital and FundersClub. The financing will be used to expand the company’s sales, marketing and engineering efforts.
Clarabridge Inc., Reston, Va., has completed an $80 million equity investment by General Catalyst Partners, Summit Partners and Unica-founder Yuchun Lee. As part of the transaction, Yuchun Lee will join as Clarabridge’s chairman of the board and Larry Bohn of General Catalyst Partners and Tom Jennings of Summit Partners will join as board directors.