Mobile Accord closes on $6.6 million in VC to survey developing world with GeoPoll

Eric Peterson | Friday, November 15, 2013

Highlands-based Mobile Accord has launched GeoPoll to survey the developing world.

Mobile Accord is the company behind mGive, which handles about 80 percent of the country's text-based donations. Gutterman describes Founder James Eberhard as a visionary of mobile.

"The World Bank came to us and said, 'We have a problem,'" says GeoPoll CEO Steve Gutterman. The issue? Surveying in the developing world was expensive and ineffective.

Mobile Accord stepped in and surveyed 100,000 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo for "a fraction of the cost," says Gutterman. "We realized there was a huge opportunity and need for surveying in the developing world."

The company honed and validated the concept from 2011 to 2013. "We've developed the largest survey network in the developing world," says Gutterman. "We're reaching people who were previously unreachable."

"The trends are on our side," says Gutterman. "We have a multimodal platform that's very flexible." This is a key, as respondents "don't have landlines, Internet access or a permanent address, but they do have cell phones."

Respondents opt in to surveys, and are often paid about 50 cents for participation.

GeoPoll has raised about $11 million in financing to date. Clients include soft drink and consumer electronics companies as well as major non-governmental organizations like USAid and the World Bank.

Now 55 employees, GeoPoll parent Mobile Accord more than doubled its staff in 2013 and could be at 75 to 100 employees by the end of 2014, says Gutterman.

Contact Confluence Denver Innovation & Jobs News Editor Eric Peterson with tips and leads for future stories at eric@confluence-denver.com.

Mobile Accord closes on $6.6 million in VC to survey developing world with GeoPoll

Read more articles by Eric Peterson.

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