College Pulse, a survey research and data analytics company, co-founded by Terren Klein and Robin Jayaswal, has developed the first real-time data analytics platform to track and predict US college students’ opinions, interests and buying behavior. Recent survey research reports include: Divided Legacy: Students’ Perceptions on Affirmative Action, Expectations vs. Reality: Early Career Salaries, and Political Intelligence: The State of the 2020 Democratic Primary Tracker. Upcoming research, conducted in partnership with the Knight Foundation, will focus on student opinions about freedom of speech on campus.
The company recently closed a 1.5M fundraising seed round after a summer in Y Combinator, a Silicon Valley accelerator. Investors included: Madrona Venture Group, Norwest Venture Partners, and GSV Accelerate, and strategic angels including Y Combinator founder, Paul Graham. GSV Accelerate is an education vertical VC that has previously backed companies like Chegg, Course Hero, and Masterclass.
Read More: Sales Engagement Leader Outreach Reaches Unicorn Status, Raises $114 Million Series E
“Most leading brands don’t fully understand college students as effectively as they could,” said College Pulse CEO Terren Klein. “Our vision is to provide the most reliable, up-to-date insights into what college students think about brands, hiring, purchasing and social opinions.”
Matt McIlwain, Managing Director at Madrona Ventures, who led the investment round, added, “College Pulse is making huge strides to tackle the $50 billion Market Research industry. The fact that such a young company has already partnered with organizations like the Knight Foundation and McKinsey & Company is truly exceptional.” The newly raised funds will contribute to growing College Pulse’s student opinion data platform and expanding its data analytics and predictive insights capabilities to better serve clients.
Read More: Cyren Recognized in 2019 CRN Partner Program Guide
College Pulse offers custom data-driven marketing and research solutions, utilizing its proprietary College Radar Analytics Platform. This is the first real-time, mobile student survey platform that can poll 250,000 undergraduate college student respondents from over 230 four-year colleges and universities in all 50 states. The panel, which is currently the largest of its kind in the United States, is hosted on College Pulse’s proprietary mobile platform available on iOS, Android and the desktop. Clients include McKinsey, Knight Foundation, Sennheiser, and Dartmouth College.
Read More: SAS Showcases Regional Impact of Advanced Analytics and Artificial Intelligence at Flagship Event