Lancaster University spinout Relative Insight has received an undisclosed sum from a government-backed investment vehicle for its linguistics-based market research product.
Relative Insight, a UK-based linguistic analysis and market research spinout from Lancaster University, has received an undisclosed sum from the UK government-owned Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF).
The capital was provided through Maven Equity Finance, managed by Maven Capital Partners, which was allocated £57.5m ($77.5m) from NPIF earlier this year to bolster the ecosystem in the northeast of England.
Relative Insight has adapted linguistic analysis techniques first developed at Lancaster University’s linguistic and cyber security departments to help brands assess the vernacular of their target audiences.
The spinout counts entertainment conglomerate Disney among its clients, as well as consumer goods producer Unilever and marketing agencies Havas and R/GA.
The capital will be used to further develop Relative Insight’s market research offering, scale up its client-facing operations and scope out opportunities in the UK and US.
In May 2017, Relative Insight joined R/GA’s Marketing Tech Venture Studio scheme, which offers a maximum $120,000 investment in return for up to 6% equity. It received an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Rosebud Finance and Northwest Fund for Venture Capital in 2012.
Martin Clark, investment manager at Maven, said: “Maven is very pleased to have secured this investment into Relative Insight and look forward to working with the talented management team, helping them achieve their ambitious growth plans.
“Relative Insight epitomises the kind of early stage growth business that the equity finance part of the NPIF is designed to assist.”
