Johannesburg-based marketing technology startup delvv.io has announced a first round of investment led by global business executive and investor Kevin Gaskell, taking on around ZAR2 million (US$127,000) to accelerate its development.
Launched a few months ago, delvv.io has built Sense Check, which allows clients to get feedback on their concepts and campaigns from online panels of creative professionals across any market in Africa.
All a client needs to do is upload their creative, be it a website, video advert, animatic or mobile app, and the delvv.io platform will identify the 30 most relevant creative professionals to provide 12 hours of analysis and actionable feedback.
In order to assist in growing the company, co-founders Trevor Wolfe and Remon Geyser have secured funding from Gaskell, who is the former managing director of both BMW and Porsche.
“delvv.io is addressing a market which is ripe for disruption not only in terms of pace and cost, but also in terms of quality local insights,” said Gaskell.
“By leveraging the power of the crowd to access expertise from across the continent, delvv.io is giving brand managers a way to properly localise campaigns in a way that won’t break the bank. I see this as a major opportunity and I’m excited to be getting in on the ground floor with these guys.”
The global market research industry is valued at US$45 billion, but dominated by a handful of incumbents that Wolfe and Geyser say have not kept pace with changes in demographic shifts, media consumption habits and online technologies.
“The old saying that half of all advertising is wasted has a lot to do with poor targeting. The truth is that that most campaigns are neither tested nor adapted to suit the needs of the local market particularly here in Africa,” said Wolfe.
“This is not because brand managers and agencies don’t know better they do but the existing tools make it harder, not easier to tailor to different demographics and markets. We’re working to change that.”
The startup has also been selected to represent South Africa at the upcoming Endeavour Global programme in Spain this month. delvv.io will present to a panel of global experts, including senior executives from Facebook, Twitter and Google.
