Market research the technology way with Velocity MR
Market research has traditionally been about getting primary insights from focus groups, but with Velocity MR digital data offers primary insights on the fly.
At a glance
Startup: Velocity MR
Founders: Jasal Shah, Venkatesh D N, Anand P, Rajesh Bodke
Year it was founded: 2017
Where is it based: Bengaluru
Problem it solves: Technology platform that drives real time research insights
Sector: Saas/Market Research
Funding: Undisclosed funding from Markelytics
When you run a market research company for 15 years, you figure out the only way to scale is with digital data insights. That's what Jasal Shah, Venkatesh D N, Anand P, Rajesh Bodke, all in their early forties, began building in January 2017.
With Velocity MR, the four built a data platform that can make researchers and companies get market insights on the fly.
Once you register with Velocity, a company gets access to data of 6 million individuals (more on that later) and can ask all kinds of questions, say about a product launch, about a particular design or even open-ended ones to understand consumer behaviour, says Jasal,
“Remember, these are not surveys. These are insights given by real people for real research.”
Velocity is the second company the four have founded, with its idea stemming from Markelytics, which they founded in 2003 after four years in corporate jobs. Markelytics was a traditional market research company that conducted focus groups and collected information from the public.
The business went on to garner revenue of around Rs 40 crore a year and the co-founders began to realise that with the data of six million people signed on to the platform, they could launch a new tech-based company to liberate primary research.
“With Velocity, brands get real people participating in research. But, what is the incentive, one may ask. People answer queries because they are incentivised to answer questions,” says Jasal.
Velocity works with ecommerce companies who incentivise those who take part in the research.
Here is how Velocity MR works
Velocity draws data that Markelytics has built over the last decade. Once a client signs on, the platform asks the brand or company to start creating queries and target the type of customers it wants to reach.
Velocity picks up the queries and sends emails, SMS and message links to people. It even tells a brand that who is most likely to answer the questions. Ecommerce brands can use Velocity MR to understand what customers want on the next big sale. Once customers answer queries, Velocity visualises the primary insight, based on which companies can take action. The four co-founders invested a sizable amount in the business, and have signed on 20 businesses.
People who are targeted to answer research queries can opt out with an email. Velocity is currently a web-based application, and can eventually become an app.
What Velocity MR wants to achieve
Velocity considers itself a tech-savvy insights provider that believes in quality and quick turnaround time. Jasal believes that this technology play can become bigger than Markelytics, and work with a larger pool of corporate customers and researchers. Its current revenues are not disclosed by the company.
“In this highly complex and fast evolving business scenario, organisations change strategies overnight unlike a decade ago when strategy change was a matter of too many deliberations and thinking,” says Jasal. He says Velocity MR is built for scaling insights.
The ecommerce industry needs to stay ahead in pricing to stay competitive, and change strategies very fast, and hence the need to understand the consumer in the quickest possible time has become imperative.
Velocity MR uses technology to reach out to consumers to collect the data and the same is churned into meaningful insights. The use of technology allays fears on accuracy and time. “This is the reason, why brands seeking insights with crunch timelines are our potential clients. Competitive pricing, timely delivery, extensive reach and customised approach – all have a common denominator, technology, which helps us scale and acts as one of the barriers to entry for other insights provider,” says Jasal.
Velocity MR offers the following services:
- Business Consulting
- Consumer Insights
- Syndicated Reports
- Loyalty Solutions
- Brand Equity and Positioning
- B2B Research
“Insights and data-based businesses are the future in India where there is no primary data,” says Chetan Anand, Director at PWC.
The future is, indeed, about data. According to research firm Statista, the global data market is pegged at $34 billion in size. But, what are we going to use it for? Velocity shows that it is about getting answers with more questions, in the end, it is about knowing the nature of things. In Velocity’s case, it is about knowing the consumer better and that's what all research is about.