Kantar Buys Survey App Platform Qmee

Kantar has agreed to acquire Reading, UK-based app survey platform and fraud prevention technology provider Qmee, majority owned by private equity firm capital D. Qmee will become a part of Kantar's primary research division Profiles.

Qmee uses a 'fun and easy to use' app to gather consumer attitudes and opinions, and backs it up with a panel of more than 750,000 'active and loyal' consumers across North America, the UK and Australia, recently joined by France and Germany. Advanced neural network anti-fraud technology is used to guarantee data quality and reliability, and Qmee was recently listed in the top 100 of the Financial Times 1000 Fastest Growing Companies in Europe for the second year in a row.

Kantar CEO Chris Jansen says the move builds on the recent acquisition of Blackwood Seven and the sale of Kantar Public, focusing the group's portfolio on 'providing highly differentiated and advanced analytics-based products and services to consumer-facing brands'. He continues: 'Consumer insights are a key input in developing business, marketing and creative strategies: the acquisition of Qmee further strengthens our leadership position in delivering the most trusted and robust research to inform those strategies'.

Profiles Division CEO Caroline Frankum comments: 'With our own proprietary panels of more than seven million consumers, including our exclusive LifePoints asset, we already have an excellent reputation for providing trusted, high-quality research data, as well as a leading score for both panelist satisfaction and the prevention of fraudulent activity in surveys'. Frankum says the Qmee buy 'doubles down' on this leadership and commitment.

Jonathan Knight (pictured), Qmee CEO and co-founder of the firm in 2010 with Nick Sutton, comments: 'Kantar saw the value our unique technologies bring to solving our industry's biggest challenges. Applying these technologies at a global scale is a wonderful challenge for me and the whole Qmee team. Both Nick and I are excited to join Caroline's leadership team to combine our technology with Kantar's proven IP and processes to set a new standard for trust and data quality in the research industry'.

The deal, for which financial terms were not disclosed, is expected to close next month. Web sites: www.qmee.com and www.kantar.com .