Bilendi & respondi to Acquire Netquest

European MR panels and tech solutions company Bilendi & respondi has agreed to acquire Iberia and Latin America specialist Netquest from its current owner NIQ.

Headquartered in Paris, Bilendi & respondi collects data from consumers, citizens, patients and professionals, with offices in Europe's Big 5 economies plus Belgium, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Morocco. Its offer includes AI solution BARI and SaaS MR platform Bilendi Discuss. Previously operating online panels in fifteen European countries, the firm announced in September that it will launch twenty new proprietary panels, extending its coverage to 'nearly all of Europe'.

Research tech firm Bilendi acquired German sample and panel provider respondi in 2021, and two months ago the combined firm bought French company Tandemz, which specialises in UX tester recruitment. The latest buy, its biggest to date, will add another 270 employees to its existing headcount of 400, add substantially to its presence in Netquest's core geographies and strengthen its technology base.

Netquest was founded in Barcelona in 2001 and in addition to Spain and Portugal operates panels in nineteen Latin American countries, totalling more than 1,500,000 panelists. It also has six panels elsewhere in Europe and in the USA, and has developed technology for passive collection of behavioural data from panelists' mobile phones and computers. The firm was acquired in 2016 by GfK, which is now part of NIQ.

The combined firm will boast more than 4,000,000 panelists in 36 countries (17 in Europe, 19 in Latin
America), not including the twenty new European countries to be added shortly. The transaction is expected to close at beginning of February 2025, subject to approvals.

Marc Bidou, Chairman and CEO of Bilendi says the buy is a key step in the company's ambition to build a leading global player, and adds: 'The reputation of the Netquest team, its panels and technologies is one of the keys to its success... We share the same values of quality and innovation'.

Netquest Chairman and CEO Esteban Gay (pictured) says joining the Bilendi Group is 'a unique opportunity for Netquest', and comments: 'Together, we will not only expand the geographical boundaries of our activities, but also transform our offering by integrating cutting-edge technologies, in particular the artificial intelligence developed by Bilendi & respondi'.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Web sites: www.bilendi.com and www.netquest.com .