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Read the pitch deck that a startup that uses AI to automate market research for clients like Google and Clorox used to raise $15 million
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- Startup BlueOcean raised $15 million in Series A funding from private-equity firm Insight Partners.
- The company draws data from public sources and uses AI to help marketers set and tweak strategies.
- BlueOcean, which has Google and Microsoft as clients, plans to grow its sales team and make acquisitions.
BlueOcean, a software-as-a-service startup that uses AI to help brands develop and tweak their marketing strategies, raised $15 million in Series A funding.
Private equity firm Insight Partners, which has invested in tech platforms and software companies such as Twitter, Shopify, and Calm, led the round.
BlueOcean was started in 2019 by ad agency vets Grant McDougall, who is CEO; Liza Nebel, COO and president; and Matt Gross, chief data scientist. They operated in beta for two years and have Microsoft, Google, Cisco, Bloomingdale’s, and Diageo as clients.
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McDougall said the founders saw an opening in using machine learning to simplify market research and inform marketers about their own performance and that of competitors.
BlueOcean, which operates on a subscription model, gathers real-time data from public sources like corporate websites, social media posts, financial filings, consumer data, and responses to ad campaigns. It then recommends ways for CMOs to adjust to competitors’ moves, market changes, and their own performance, McDougall said. It also ranks brands against their top competitors based on factors like total ad spend, engagement rates, and messaging consistency. Its competitors include data management platform Qualtrics.
BlueOcean claims to reduce the need for consultants and lengthy surveys by automating much of the process. It plans to use the new capital to hire salespeople, consider AI-related acquisitions, and promote the company.
“Reliance on first-party data is going away,” McDougall said. “The ability to look at the market, ingest the information at speed, and make decisions will be key to your ability to get to market faster.”
Below is BlueOcean’s investor deck.
BlueOcean uses AI software to give marketers data on their companies and competitors. Its key selling points are automation and real-time updates.
BlueOcean
The phaseout of the ad targeting cookie makes market research more important than ever, said CEO Grant McDougall.
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BlueOcean claims to charge a fraction of what traditional market research firms do, with annual fees that have run from $45,000 to $80,000, McDougall said.
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BlueOcean says it can tell marketers if they’re underperforming and need to change their strategies.
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BlueOcean’s investors and advisors have worked with Google, Diageo, and tax software company Avalara.
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Insight Partners Managing Director Rachel Geller said billions are pouring into brand research services, with mid-market companies looking for an affordable way to enter the field.
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BlueOcean plans to expand to other businesses like data management and consulting.
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BlueOcean claims it can help marketers decide how much to spend and figure out why some competitors are doing better than others.
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BlueOcean’s clients include B2B and B2C brands like Cisco, Clorox, and Pabst Blue Ribbon. Microsoft was one of the first to subscribe.
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BlueOcean says it signed 100 clients within 8 months of its launch.
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90% of BlueOcean’s new business comes from referrals, McDougall said. The company wants to work with ad agencies and their clients.
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BlueOcean aims to establish itself as the top “brand tracking” service.
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