US Launch for Asian Panel Provider GMO

Tokyo-based MR sample provider GMO Research is expanding to North America with the opening of a subsidiary in New York City, headed up by Christa Arite.

GMO Research is part of GMO Internet Group, a Japanese market leader in Internet security, payment processing, e-commerce solutions, web hosting, domain and FX trading. The research division operates one of the largest consumer panel networks in APAC, the Asia Cloud Panel, which currently consists of more than 46m online panellists, both b2b and consumer, across 16 APAC markets and with more than 40 global partner countries.

The firm says demand from North America has 'markedly increased' since the outbreak of the pandemic. The new wholly owned subsidiary is located at West 34th Street, 8th Floor, New York. Arite (pictured right) joined GMO Research in 2018 and oversees business development and operations for the North American region.

Pratik Sharma (left), who joined the company nine months ago as EVP for the US and EU region, comments: 'Our industry has gone through a transformation within the last two years, and GMO has adapted to that change. One of the investments made by GMO Research is to be with our clients locally on a partnership basis and we now have a branch of GMO Research, headquartered in NYC'. Sharma says the remainder of this year will be 'focused on bolstering [the company's] global presence'.

Web site: www.gmo-research.com .