Led by Lavrock Ventures, alongside participation from Riverbend Capital, this funding round comes at an important time in the market research industry, just as leading fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands increasingly rely more on emerging market opportunities, and the traditional providers of research are facing constraints on how far they can go and how fast they can move. Native is not bound by the same constraints, delivering the on-demand economy experience to market research most typically seen in consumer rideshare and food delivery applications.
“Native has seen impressive growth in a short time with an incredibly lean team,” said Lavrock’s Daniel Hanks, who joined the board in conjunction with the financing, “and their versatility is widely appreciated by customers. Whether they are monitoring humanitarian conditions in embattled Syrian cities in real-time, or gauging the in-store presence of one of the world’s leading brands in Japan, their ability to serve up needle-moving data that matters is a game changer for multiple industries. Native is making on-the-ground research faster, better, and more affordable to clients desperate to improve beyond the margin.”
Prior to announcing this round, Native brought on senior hires from the global rideshare platform Uber to manage its global operations, as well as talent from PepsiCo and market research leader IRi to drive its work with global brands and from Orbital Insight to help drive its worth with the public sector. Native was also recently listed as one of the leading technology companies to watch in 2019 by Built In New York.
Traditional research companies rely on human-intensive consulting models that make gathering data cumbersome and expensive. By connecting organizations that have questions to locals who collect data that can answer them, Native is removing the middleman. With this model, market research, geospatial mapping, and groundtruthing for any industry becomes more direct, more feasible, and more affordable.
“We are changing the face of market research in over 35 countries and in more than 16 languages around the world,” said Matt McNabb, co-founder and CEO of Native, “and we’re psyched to be working with Daniel and the talented teams at Lavrock and Riverbend to accelerate that reality.”
About Native
Headquartered in New York, with offices in Washington, DC, Bogota, and London, Native is an on-demand tech company that connects global organizations that have questions with a fleet of locals who collect data used to answer them. For more, see their website at: www.native.io
About Lavrock Ventures
Lavrock Ventures is an early-stage venture firm that invests in enterprise software and data businesses, headquartered in the greater Washington DC area. Lavrock partners with passionate entrepreneurs working to solve some of the most critical problems facing major institutions in the public and private sectors. For more information, visit www.lavrockvc.com.
