Funds, Launch and Recruitment Drive for Neurosensum

Indonesia-based research and neuroscience start-up Neurosensum has followed up a recent $1.8m funding win with the launch of a new research tool, SurveySensum, and says it aims to double its size to around 90 employees by the end of the year.

Founded in February 2018, the company offers virtual reality, facial coding, brain mapping and eye-tracking, among other techniques all aimed at getting a deeper understanding of customer preferences and behavior. In January this year it raised $US 620k from Alpha JWC Ventures, plus other funds from angel investors; and in May it followed up with $1.8m in a series A round from SIG Asia.

Neurosensum has around 55 blue chip companies as clients, and says it broke even within six months of launch, making revenues of more than $1m in 2018. However, the new tool aims to bring in smaller firms as users, reflecting a recognition that, in Global MD Rajiv Lamba's words, 'only 2% of corporates use market research agencies, simply because mid-sized enterprises cannot afford the price of consultancy'. SurveySensum collects, delivers and analyzes customer feedback and data in real time, operating on a subscription model which allows SMEs to perform their own research at 'one-tenth of the rates charged by conventional agencies' and 'in minutes' rather than a month or more.

The firm plans to add AI features to analyze text and sentiment in open-ended responses; and to extend its international reach - it recently began commercial operations in Singapore and India, where a third of its 45 staff are now based (the remainder are mostly in Indonesia).

Lamba (pictured right) was a shareholder in UK-based global b2b specialist Kadence International, left the firm in 2017 following its 2014 sale to full service Japanese MR group CMG (Cross Marketing Group), and started Neurosensum with another former Kadence exec, Vivek Thomas (pictured left).

The company and new tool are on the web at www.neurosensum.com and www.surveysensum.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.