News: Sydney-based behavioral research platform Heatseeker AI secured a USD 1.5 million ($2.36 million) funding round led by San Francisco-based Capital F, earning participation from Euphemia, Capital and East End Ventures.
Figures: This funding will help Heatseeker AI target the US$100 billion ($173 billion) market research industry. The company already has more than 12 enterprise clients across the US, Europe and Australia, including major banks and health insurance companies.
Context: Founded in Sydney by co-founder Kate O’Keefe, CEO, Fiona Triacah, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Product Officer of Heatseeker AI, Rutger Courn. The founding team brings experience from companies such as Cisco, Atlassian, Usertesting.
What they said: “Today, businesses are filming in the dark and guessing what their customers want,” said Kate O’Keefe, CEO of Heatseeker AI. “We are ending an era where companies make multi-million dollar decisions based on what focus group participants claim they want.”
“Heatseeker’s solutions were immediately persuasive, but what drove our beliefs was an exceptional founding team with the right experience to execute quickly,” said Margaret Coblentz, co-founder and general partner of Capital F.
sauce: Heatseeker media release.