Black Swan Data, a London-based SaaS company, announced that it has closed an $18.5M growth fundraise led by Oxx, with participation from existing investor AlbionVC.
The funding will enable Black Swan Data to develop more advanced features and capabilities in Trendscope, Black Swan’s core software platform, and continue expansion in the US market.
Steve King, CEO, and Co-Founder of Black Swan Data says, “Over the last two years, the market research industry has been turned upside down and legacy methods that CPG companies have stuck with for decades became unviable, literally overnight. Believe me, more than anyone, we realise the irony of not predicting that particular black swan event, but the adoption of AI-driven observational research and predictive analytics has accelerated dramatically and this is reflected in the growth of our business. This latest round of funding will allow us to build upon the growth of the last year and significantly invest in our core product, Trendscope, bringing customers new features and usability that enable them to create reliably relevant new products and shape a modern marketing innovation process for the future, particularly at a time when brands need a cost-effective way of continuous product innovation.”
Predicts consumer behaviour
Founded by Hugo Amos and Steve King, Black Swan ingests and analyses a variety of online and social media data sources to understand and predict consumer behaviour.
The company was founded to disrupt the $90B global market research industry using AI to unlock insights from the data and content published by consumers online.
Black Swan’s software Trendscope works by tapping into what millions of consumers are talking about online in public, unpromoted conversations. It continuously analyses this data to map growth opportunities and identify emerging trend signals earlier and more accurately than traditional market research approaches.
By predicting consumer needs and trends with an 89% accuracy rating more than six months into the future, Trendscope enables CPG (consumer packaged goods) companies to develop more relevant innovation ideas and improve their new product launch success rates.
The company’s software helps brands to de-risk decision-making in uncertain times when consumer behaviour is rapidly shifting. Black Swan Data says Trendscope’s subscription revenues have grown by more than 100% each year for the last three years and Black Swan has doubled its client base in the last 12 months
The company works with global clients, including PepsiCo, P&G, Kraft Heinz, and Harley Davidson.
Philip Edmondson-Jones, Principal at Oxx, who joins the company’s board says, “Black Swan Data sits at the top of the new product innovation process and revolutionises consumer research for global CPG brands. Its Trendscope platform gathers unstructured data from disparate sources, and refines this using proprietary AI technology, to provide both granular and statistically accurate predictions. It’s increasingly becoming the backbone of the consumer insights tech stack, at a crucial time of change and challenges in the CPG industry. The business has made incredible progress over the last few years, and we at Oxx are delighted to be backing Steve, Hugo, and the rest of their excellent team to extend Trendscope’s functionality and expand the business even further into the US market.”
Ed Lascelles, Partner at AlbionVC comments, “We are delighted to continue supporting Black Swan in this round. It has been wonderful to see the team realise their vision of revolutionising insights through data, and we have been impressed at the rapid growth of the flagship product Trendscope over recent years. We are excited to see the further development of the market that this round of finance will enable.”
