New Name and Funds for MR Tools Firm Luz

In the US, machine learning-based retail database Luz, built for market research, competitor tracking and product development, has been renamed Particl. The firm has also raised $8.5m in a Series A round of investment, which it says it will use to 'disrupt' the MR sector.

The firm develops MR tools for product development and merchandising teams, enabling them to make data-driven decisions for their brands. By collecting primary data from tens of thousands of eCommerce companies, Particl provides insights on market trends and also specific data on product sales volume, down to the level of SKUs.

The new funding has been led by Tandem Ventures, with participation from existing investors Album VC and Peterson Ventures, who also took part in the company's $5m seed round; and new investors University Growth Fund and RevRoad Capital. The investment will be used to expand Particl's abilities to forecast demand, measure price elasticity and identify product whitespace, and to make appointments to strengthen its go-to-market and customer success functions.

Josh Wilson (pictured), Particl's co-founder and CEO, comments: 'Catchy name, sophisticated look, greater funding. These exciting developments underscore that we're here to disrupt old, tired competitors in market research, and help our brands solve current macroeconomic difficulties using data and modern AI techniques'.

Web site: www.particl.com .