Global research platform Streetbees clinches $5.1m seed investment

Streetbees, a global research platform, has landed $5.1m in seed funding led by BGF Ventures, with participation from Octopus Ventures and LocalGlobe.

Founded in 2015 by Tugce Bulut and Oliver May, Streetbees is a market research platform for global brands, allowing them to connect with over one million consumers across 87 countries to ask specific questions and observe daily habits through photos and videos.

Each user gets paid in cash within 24 hours of sharing their information, which can then be analysed using artificial intelligence to provide market research insights.

The company works with a number of major global brands including Unilever, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, L’Oréal, Dyson, Vodafone and Amnesty International.

The funding will enable Streetbees to double the size of its 40-strong team over the next year, as it looks to reach 10 million users globally, and to develop its technology platform.

Bulut commented: “In a world where brands are willing to invest huge amounts of resources to better understand their consumers, there has to be a better way to capture insights and Streetbees has found it. We use geolocation and mobile technology to engage the right person in the right place to answer brands’ questions.

“Streetbees’ grassroots research approach is providing the brands with the rich consumer insights they need at large scale at an affordable price as we connect them directly with their consumers without any intermediaries.”

Harry Briggs, partner at BGF Ventures, added: “People are waking up to the failings of political pollsters but market research can also be unreliable and Streetbees can solve that problem by providing rich qualified data in a new way that puts the world’s biggest brands directly in touch with their customers.”