Potloc raises $35 million to expand social media sampling tech across North America, Europe
Summary
The market research startup announced a $35 million CAD Series B round, and, after expanding from 60 to 230 employees in the past year, plans to hire 120 more staff in Montreal, New York, and Paris.Potloc describes itself as a tech-enabled consumer research company that conducts survey sampling through social networks.Potloc is a growth story that we are excited to be a part of, said Tony van Marken, managing partner and co-founder at First Ascent Ventures. Some of its customers include LOr\xe9al, Cadillac Fairview, Carrefour, Loblaws, and Aldo.Potloc has used its survey technology to do market research on everything from health workers on the front lines of the pandemic, to political polling, to a survey of Toronto homeowners in early June for the home renovation marketplace startup Billdr.Investissement Qu\xe9bec led the round with participation from First Ascent Ventures and initial investors Brightspark Ventures, Desjardins Capital, Cap Horn, EcoFuel, and Business Development Bank of Canada with debt financing provided by CIBC Innovation Banking.The new funds consist of $25 million in equity and $10 million in debt. Everybodys telling us you shouldnt be planning to raise until the end of 2024, Barrere told BetaKit.Following the raise, Potlucks new board members include van Marken and Marie-Mich\xe8le Caron, president of international markets at the SaaS startup Thryv.Barrere noted that Caron opened Coveos United States (US) office, and was in charge of channels and strategic alliances. Her help will be around channel sales for us, finding partners that will be able to sell our solutions, and penetrating more efficiently the US market.Barrere cited van Markens experience in building a company from the ground up, and taking it public, something that Barrere said is Potlocs goal ultimately.As president and CEO of Architel Systems Corporation between 1994 and 1999, van Marken grew revenues from $1 million to $70 million and led Architel through its initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1996, and its NASDAQ listing in 1998. Architel had over 450 employees worldwide across four continents with a market capitalization of $400 million.Started in 2014, Potloc raised a $2.5 million seed extension round in 2018, and then announced a two-part Series A round done in tranches in 2019 and 2020 for a total of $20 million.When Barrere began Potloc right out of school at the age of 22, with co-founder Louis Delaoustre, he recalls initially intercepting people in the streets of Montreal, and asking them questions in order to understand how to entice people to take surveys.People dislike surveys, Barrere said, noting most people dont have time for them and that even if they do they lack interest in taking them.