Fast turnaround market research platform Ideally has raised AU$13.4 million in Series A funding to help fuel its US expansion.
The round, led by Shearwater Capital with support from Altered Capital, Icehouse Ventures and Ecliptic VC, sees the startup valued at more than AU$83 million.
Ideally said the investment will accelerate its US expansion. It opened a New York office earlier this year and, in a release, said its US revenue had grown 350 per cent after inking deals with clients including Duckhorn, Tilray and Rémy Cointreau.
Now, more than 250 brands across APAC and the US use Ideally to discover where opportunity exists in their category, test and validate ideas early, and make faster decisions across the product and marketing lifecycle.
Ideally has also launched ‘Ideally Canvas’, a new product that gives brands a living, continuously updated picture of their consumer rather than a static snapshot.
Ideally Canvas is designed to bring consumer, category, and competitor understanding into the earliest stage of the creative process. Every study it conducts feeds a compounding dataset that builds over time, helping teams understand what consumers want more of, what is missing in their category, and which creative directions are likely to resonate.
“When we started Ideally, we saw an industry that needed fixing. Market research hasn’t kept pace with the modern marketer, and brands are drowning in data but starved of insight they can actually use,” said James Donald, CEO of Ideally.
“So we built something different: real human insight, fast enough to fuel creativity, accessible enough for every team doing the work. When insight moves at the pace of creativity, braver ideas get made and better work follows. Our goal is to put real consumer understanding at the heart of every decision, and with our new partners behind us, we’re ready to take that to every market that needs it.
“Consumer sentiment moves in dog years these days. The biggest risk in marketing is making a bold call based on who your customer was half a year ago, let alone 18 months ago. Better decisions come from understanding how people are thinking, feeling and behaving right now, not relying on yesterday’s assumptions,” Donald added.
Zac Zavos, managing partner at Shearwater Capital, pointed to the product’s impact as the driver behind the investment. “Ideally has taken what was a long, expensive, waterfall research process and rebuilt it as something fast, iterative, and accessible. Once marketers experience the speed of overnight responses, it becomes indispensable.”
“What impresses us most is how every aspect of this business has been built around customer delight, and the pace at which they’ve scaled revenue, customers, and team since inception reflects that. They’re moving fast and building the category as they go.”
