Fast-growing tech firm Morning Consult said it has raised $60 million in new funding about a year after its first institutional round and seven years after launching from a D.C. rowhouse.
The Series B round comes from lead investor Advance Venture Partners of San Francisco, as well as Susquehanna Growth Equity of Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, and James Murdoch’s New York-based Lupa Systems.
The company, whose software-as-a-service technology uses artificial intelligence and global data collection to offer polling and research platforms for client firms, said that financing yields it a $1.01 billion valuation — making it the latest Greater Washington player to reach coveted “unicorn” status.
Morning Consult had set out to raise up to $100 million in this round, according to a document filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Per that document, the company reported raising $55 million.
Its local unicorn counterparts, or private companies valued at $1 billion or more, include fast-casual restaurant chain Cava, media holding company Vox Media, identity management startup ID.me and artificial intelligence services firm Afiniti.
Morning Consult plans to use the latest funding to expand its offerings and operations, as well as to launch commercial operations in the Asia-Pacific and Europe, Middle East and Africa regions, Morning Consult co-founder and CEO Michael Ramlet said in a statement. “We’re only just beginning to disrupt an antiquated $90 billion industry,” he said.
It follows a $31 million Series A round Morning Consult closed in May 2020 that the company said put its valuation at $306 million. That round, led by Lupa Systems and AVP, came after five years of bootstrapping the business, which started with a $30,000 budget.
Morning Consult’s survey platform performs tens of thousands of interviews daily from a pool of 100 million people in 15 countries. Its software then crunches the numbers to provide data and brand analytics, including consumer confidence data used by groups such as the Federal Reserve Board of Governors during Covid-19.
The company said its client base includes several Fortune 500 companies across the pharmaceutical, food and beverage, technology and financial services spaces. It’s also working on polling operations with multiple media organizations including The New York Times, in addition to running its own media division and branches focused on economic and brand research. The business said it has grown revenue more than 100% each year and reports a revenue run rate exceeding $100 million.
“Morning Consult’s success to date is evidence of the growing importance of technology and data-driven insights in enterprise decision making,” David ibnAle, founding and managing partner of Advance Venture Partners, said in a statement.
Its growth has already seen it expand its digs, as it plans to move its downtown D.C. headquarters to 1025 F St. NW. There, the company will occupy 50,000 square feet on the eighth floor of the Woodward & Lothrop building, owned by Douglas Development, starting in September. It currently sits a few blocks away at 729 15th St. NW, also a Douglas property, and it also holds offices in New York, Chicago and San Francisco.
The company actively hired through the pandemic, reaching nearly 255 employees by November — up from 143 a year prior. It now has dozens of openings listed on its site across analysis, client services, business development, communications and marketing, legal, editorial, creative, product, technology, talent and operations.
Ramlet, one of the Washington Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 honorees of 2020, started Morning Consult in 2014 with co-founders Kyle Dropp, its president, and Alex Dulin, its chief technology officer. Among its recent projects, Morning Consult partnered with the Washington Area Community Investment Fund in a philanthropic effort to raise Covid-19 relief money for a “small business resilience fund,” targeting businesses in the region’s underserved communities.
Its venture round comes amid several large hauls of late, most recently including Arlington auto refinancing startup MotoRefi with $45 million; Silver Spring personal finance startup Truebill also with $45 million; D.C. cannabis company Holistic Industries with $55 million; Rockville health-tech company DrFirst with $50 million; FiscalNote with another $40 million, Gaithersburg superbug hunter Adaptive Phage with $40.75 million and a flurry of others.
This story has been updated to reflect the company's June 9 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
