Ahead of the 2020 presidential election, brain-focused research company Spark Neuro is moving into politics – and where else but D.C. to do so.
The startup, founded in 2017, opened an office in the District on June 1 as it looks to apply its brain-tracking technology to political campaigns.
Spark Neuro, based in New York, uses neuroscience to understand audience engagement for major brands, ad agencies, TV networks and movie studios. Its technology tracks brain activity while people watch videos, browse images or otherwise interact with a brand, then measures their attention and emotional levels without the need for self-reporting.
Its client list so far is impressive, with Anheuser-Busch, Barclays, FedEx, General Motors, NBC and Walmart all signed on. With those partnerships established, it was time to branch into government work.
The new business segment is something of a return to the company’s roots, CEO Spencer Gerrol said in an interview, as one of its first projects was predicting the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.
“The polls predicted Clinton would win, and we said the polls were wrong, because we had been covering Pennsylvania and Florida leading up to the election,” Gerrol said. “Emotion really drives every decision we make, and people weren’t in touch with which emotions were going to drive them when they’re in the voting booth.”
Spark plans to use its technology once again to measure people’s engagement with political content, like videos, debate clips, speeches and ads. Beyond that, the team is also expanding into the defense industry with a Department of Defense grant focused on neuroanalytics for counter-terrorism research.
The startup is starting out locally by partnering with election campaigns, including upcoming Senate races. It has about six staffers in its new digs, Gerrol said, but plans to expand to about 50 in the next two years. The D.C. office will mostly focus on political and government work, but still will contribute to Spark’s ongoing work with brands and advertisers.
It’s been a quick trip to early growth for the startup. Following Spark’s $13.5 million Series A round in August 2018, led by Thiel Capital with participation from actor Will Smith and Tornante Co., it increased its scientific development staff by seven times, opened an office in Tokyo and started planning to open a European office as well.
