In less than a week after the Greek neobank Viva Wallet was partially acquired by J.P Morgan, today another Greek startup gets acquired by an American company. The consumer insights and market research software Pollfish seals a strategic deal with Prodege, online marketing, consumer polling, and market research company.
The acquisition comes a few months after the American consumer engagement platform raised a major investment from Great Hill Partners. The amount of the deal is not disclosed, but Greek media estimate it between $70M and $85M. With the acquisition of Pollfish, Prodege will ensure that its partners have access to cost-effective research solutions so that they can enable market researchers to disclose information to consumers and make decisions quickly.
“Prodege has built an impressive reputation for its wide range, first-class team of professionals, and its ability to evolve to meet the changing needs of the industry. Prodege is in line with Pollfish in terms of priority in growth and innovation and has the resources and know-how to promote our continued success,” Giannis Papadakis, co-founder and CEO of Pollfish, shares in a press release.
The growth of Pollfish
Founded in 2013 by John Papadakis, Andreas Vourkos, Giannis Zaoudis, and Zissis Bellas, Pollfish has grown into a company with a team of 70 people, more than 50 of which are based in Greece, while the rest in the US.
The team of Pollfish has built a mobile-first survey platform for authentic responses in real-time that allows businesses to connect with customers globally and conduct fast and effective market research. The platform of Pollfish is completely DIY and it enables marketers to set up their own questionnaires. The startup collaborates with thousands of mobile applications and websites on which the surveys are displayed, and more than 200M people per year participate in its surveys.
Even though it has some strongly positioned competitors such as Google Consumer Surveys and Survey Monkey, Pollfish has managed to attract more than 3,500 business customers, including Spotify, Apple, and Netflix.
Previous fundings and acquisitions
In less than 10 years, Pollfish has managed to raise funding from the Greek venture capital firms PJ Tech Catalyst of Piraeus Bank and Odyssey Venture Partners, as well as by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Woodside Group, and angel investors.
The investor’s interest in the market for customer insights and market research solutions has a lot to do with the size of that market. Research points out that the global market for marketing research solutions was valued at $75B in 2021, and it is expected to reach $91B in 2025.
Before Pollfish, the US company had made 6 acquisitions of US tech startups in the shopping rewards and loyalty sectors:
- Upromise is a loyalty program that offers credit for college students and family members.
- CouponCause.com is an online shopping site that allows users to raise funds for charity initiatives.
- InboxDollars is a loyalty platform that rewards consumers with cash for their every day online and mobile activities.
- ShopAtHome.com is a one-stop for online and printable coupons.
- MyPoints is an online shopping rewards platform.
- SodaHead provides polling technology.
