Simporter, AI Software Startup, Raises Seed Round and Adds Former Nielsen CEO to Board
Simporter, a SaaS startup that uses Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) to predict consumer demand for new products, closed a $600,000 seed round led by European accelerator Startup Wise Guys, with angel investors from Denmark, Estonia, Japan, and other regions. Mitch Barns, former CEO of Nielsen Inc., also invested and joined Simporter’s advisory board. The company is based in Atlanta, Georgia with its development team in Kyiv, Ukraine.
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“We’re delighted to have Mitch on our board,” said Dillon Hall, co-founder of Simporter. “His expertise will greatly help our mission to empower brands and retailers with AI-driven analytics, so they can thrive in today’s volatile markets.”
From 2014-2018, Barns served as CEO and member of the board of Nielsen, an S&P 500 company that operates in +100 countries. He advanced through levels of increasing responsibility over two decades with Nielsen, having started his career at P&G. Currently, Mitch helps lead strategy and operations of non-profit Global Leadership Network and serves on the boards of Zappi, The Stable, and advisory board of private equity firm Growth Catalyst Partners. Barns joins Ben Strom on Simporter’s board. Strom began serving one year ago and brings 18 years’ experience as a portfolio manager and analyst at a variety of institutional firms ranging from long/short equity hedge funds to global asset manager PIMCO.
“I’m excited to join Simporter’s journey. They’re positioned for rapid growth behind technology that helps companies improve their ROI for innovation and product development,” said Barns.
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Simporter’s AI software predicts sales for consumer products before and after they go to market. Manufacturers and retailers use it to pinpoint which products consumers truly want and how often they’ll buy. The proprietary technology analyzes billions of data points from point-of-sales, social media sentiment, and customer reviews.
“We’re grateful to our investors for this capital to further accelerate our growth,” said Tim Hall, Simporter’s other cofounder. “Twelve Fortune-500 companies like Danone, Church & Dwight, and Calvin Klein use our software-as-a-service to discover opportunities for innovation; validate new product concepts; and accurately predict consumer demand during disruptions like Covid-19. They’ve been able to increase revenue an average +22% using Simporter.”
