Black Swan Data raises c.£13m from Oxx and Albion Capital as a new age of consumer research dawns

Black Swan was founded to disrupt the $90bn global market research industry by using AI to unlock insights from the data and content published by consumers online. It has grown subscription revenues by more than 100% in each of the last three years and secured 16 new customers in the last 12 months.

The funding will be invested in developing more advanced features and capabilities in Trendscope, Black Swan’s core software platform, and continuing expansion into the US. By predicting consumer needs and trends with 89% accuracy rating over six months into the future, Trendscope enables consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies to develop more relevant ideas and improve new product launch success rates (often cited as having a >75% failure rate).

Black Swan’s customers include Danone, Cosnova, J&J, Kraft Heinz, P&G and PepsiCo. 
 

Stephan Gans, SVP, Chief Consumer Insights and Analytics Officer at PepsiCo explains:

At PepsiCo, Trendscope has been instrumental in the development of new products and staying ahead of mainstream consumer preferences by monitoring data online sources. During the pandemic, for example, we saw an increase in conversations and posts about seltzer makers and new flavours in lieu of consumers being able to consume their favourite beverages out of the home. This insight helped PepsiCo prioritise and fast-track the development of new products like Bubly Drops to take advantage of this growing territory.

Steve King, CEO and Co-Founder, Black Swan Data said:

Over the last two years the market research industry has been turned upside down and legacy methods that CPG companies have stuck with for decades became unviable, literally overnight. Believe me, more than anyone, we realise the irony of not predicting that particular black swan event, but the adoption of AI-driven observational research and predictive analytics has accelerated dramatically and this is reflected in the growth of our business. This funding will allow us to build upon the growth of the last year and significantly invest in our core product, Trendscope, to enable customers to create reliably relevant new products, particularly at a time when brands need a cost-effective way of continuous product innovation.

We’re excited to partner with new investors Oxx and are hugely grateful for the continued support of our existing investor Albion.

Ed Lascelles, Partner at Albion Capital commented:

We are delighted to continue supporting Black Swan in this round. It has been wonderful to see the team realise their vision of revolutionising insights through data, and we have been impressed at the rapid growth of the flagship product Trendscope over recent years. We are excited to see the further development of the market that this round of finance will enable.