Montreal-based Potloc, a research technology company, has announced the closing of its Series B round, totalling C$35 million in new equity and debt financing.
Investissement Québec led the round, followed by First Ascent Ventures and initial investors Brightspark Ventures, Desjardins Capital, Cap Horn, EcoFuel, and BDC, with debt financing provided by CIBC Innovation Banking. The raise marks Potloc’s second funding round within the last 18 months, bringing total investment to C$58 million.
Potloc provides consulting firms and leading brands with social media sampling technology to target respondents worldwide to help better understand their consumer base and solve strategic challenges through accurate data.
“We have a certain ad tech that is actually showing advertising to people all over the world in order to fill quotas of the surveys that our customers are ordering from us,” co-founder and CEO Rodolphe Barrere said. “We’re guaranteeing a statistical representative sample of any target you want. So if a company wants to serve French CEOs that are leaving Canada, we’ll make sure we deliver you a good sample with the right amount of females, males, good age brackets, reflection between the different provinces, different sizes, and businesses.”
Co-Founder & CEO
Potloc. Source: Potloc
Potloc targets users through the channels they often use and trust. The company administers surveys on social networks, and displays the surveys at the moments when respondents are more likely to answer, rather than using phone calls or pop ups on websites.
With the new funding, Potloc is looking to heavily invest in their machine learning technology.
“Every net new respondent that we collect makes us smarter. So every net new respondent that we have is teaching us how to get to the next one,” Barrere said.
The company is also focusing on accelerating its go-to-market strategy in North America and Europe.
“We’re going to reinforce that presence and start exploring new countries and new geographies as well,” he added.
Potloc, which has offices in Montreal, Paris, and New York, has expanded from 60 to 230 employees in the past year and plans to grow even more with 120 additional staff.
Barrere said Potloc experienced a lot of company growth during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When you have uncertainties, people need clarity, and market research is bringing you clarity,” he noted.
Potloc is also welcoming new board members. New board members include Marie-Michèle Caron, president of International Markets at Thryv and Tony van Marken, co-founder and managing partner at First Ascent Ventures.
“We’re super happy to have both of them and to benefit from their experience and to help us bring Potloc to the next level,” Barrere said.
