Ideally, which launched in 2023 to transform marketing and campaign management with real-time consumer insights, has raised $5.5 million to fuel its US expansion.
Research and consumer insights start-up Ideally launched in 2023 with a plan to shift the way brands and marketers approach ideation, marketing campaigns and product development, and after more than a year in market, it’s raised $5.5 million in a round led by OIF Ventures and Icehouse Ventures (the latter doubled down on its earlier investment in the company).
Co-founded by James Donald (CEO), Brendan Cervin and Joshua Nu’u-Steele, Ideally works by providing marketers and agencies with overnight consumer insights to help iterate and refine ideas, a process Donald says can traditionally take up to 6 weeks – and more than $50,000.
“Insights, innovation, and marketing teams have incredible ideas but moving them through the development process is hard,” he says. “Ideas get watered down and subjective opinion reigns. Traditional innovation, creativity and insights processes have focused on finding winners and losers, not opportunities, so ideas typically emerge smaller, not bigger.”
“For many businesses, 25 to 75% of sales comes from recently released products and services, most or all of which would benefit from early consumer sentiment insights.”
James Donald – CEO, Ideally
Early surveys told Ideally that 11% of global marketing budgets were spent on research. So, the team made a bet that it could do three things: automate the workflow around market research; make it simple for marketers to use; and surface insights using AI. “Large language models were an unlock to make this solution happen,” Donald says.
Today, the company’s platform allows brands to iterate ideas within 24 hours, which customer Simon Bookallil (CEO & co-founder of Bashful Group) says is a “game changer in today’s fast-paced market”. That’s particularly important against the current macro-economic backdrop, where marketers are pulling back on creative activations to save dollars. (A Gartner survey in May this year of 35 chief marketing officers found average marketing budgets had fallen to 7.7% of overall company revenue, down from 9.1% in 2023).
“But for many businesses, 25 to 75% of sales comes from recently released products and services, most or all of which would benefit from early consumer sentiment insights. Clients embracing Ideally recognise marketing and innovation drives sales.”
Since launching in August, 2023, the company has amassed more than 115 customers across ANZ, including big wigs like Asahi, Telstra, Bupa, Revlon, Afterpay and Kraft Heinz. It also says its platform is used by 25 of the top creative advertising agencies in Australia, like M&C Saatchi and Ogilvy.
Investor Robbie Paul, CEO of Icehouse Ventures, says the company’s growth is impressive.
“Of the 150+ software companies we’ve funded, the average time to $1 million in revenue is four years and $5 million takes close to six years,” Paul says. “Ideally passed the $1 million mark in half the average time and is on track to hit $5 million just as rapidly.
“The USA is a big opportunity, it’s an even more competitive market with more pressure on marketing to deliver results. Budgets are bigger given the market is bigger.”
James Donald – CEO, Ideally
“The rapid growth is testament to its true product market fit, which addresses the longstanding problem of costly and timely consumer research being a barrier for brands and marketers to truly understand their customers.”
Donald, who exited Yonder (a travel industry AI chatbot system) before starting Ideally, says the team had confidence in the concept early. They’d used wireframes and got financial commitments from companies up front before building the product, and because most companies had already set aside budget for market and campaign research, not a lot of education was required to drive adoption.
“We were very pleasantly surprised with the growth in teams – more users and more ways to use
it than we expected,” he says. “This has seen account growth of up to 10x, proving product market fit.”
While Ideally says Australia and New Zealand present sizeable opportunities, the company’s keen to take on the US and plans to use its recent funding to fuel expansion throughout the region.
“The USA is a big opportunity, it’s an even more competitive market with more pressure on marketing to deliver results. Budgets are bigger given the market is bigger,” Donald says.
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