QualSights closed a Series A funding round this week that was just short of $8 million, Chicago Inno learned exclusively.
The biggest challenge now for the company will be keeping pace with its own success.
QualSights was named among the fastest-growing tech companies by both Inc. magazine and Deloitte this year and was named the SMS Assist Entrepreneurial Spirit Award winner at this year's Chicago Innovation Awards for its product consumption system that delivers accurate and detailed consumer behavior insights.
QualSights' insights technology platform helps brands, including a number of Fortune 500 companies, grow a deeper understanding of consumers.
Founder and CEO Nihal Advani said the company wasn't raising money because it needed it, which is one reason why he felt he was able to find success fundraising despite a recent tightening of the market.
“We were raising money because it was going to help us accelerate further,” he told Chicago Inno. “There's so many things that we know that we could be doing that we haven't yet just because we didn't have the bandwidth, and now this allows us to kind of accelerate our hiring plans.”
The $7.7 million round was led by 4490 Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Madison, Wisconsin.
With 80 people now on staff, Advani will look to double his headcount in the next 18 months.
He said that QualSights has raised more than $12 million to date and is in full growth mode heading to 2023.
He said the fundraise gives QualSights a reason to accelerate without worrying about cash on hand.
QualSights also added industry veterans Mitch Barns (former CEO of Nielsen), Gian Fulgoni (former CEO of IRI and Comscore), Rishad Tobaccowala (former chief growth officer of Publicis Groupe), Sanjay Khosla (former president of developing markets at Kraft Foods) and Mohanbir Sawhney (associate dean at Kellogg School of Management) to its board of directors along with Advani and Dan Malven (managing partner at 4490 Ventures).
