EyeSee raises private capital for expansion

EyeSee raises private capital for expansion

This news was originally published by De Tijd.

EyeSee has successfully concluded a round of private equity financing totaling 3 million euros from well-known Belgian investment firms. The main investors are ING Corporate Investments of Brussels, Belgium, and Smartfin Capital of Antwerp, Belgium acting as strategic financial partners. The new round of capitalization for EyeSee is geared towards further international business expansion and ongoing development in behavioral market research technologies and stabilizing further growth.

“We are convinced that EyeSee has the potential to be a key player in the highly innovative market for behavioral marketing research,” says Tom Bousmans, Private Equity Investment Director at ING Corporate Investments in Brussels, Belgium. “This is due to their uniquely qualified management and technology teams, their proven track record, and long-time market expertise. Through this substantial capital increase, we secure their continued growth. We believe in the strategic direction of EyeSee and the market potential for innovative market research.”

ING Corporate Investments, which is part of ING Belgium, and Smartfin Capital are investing 1,5 million euros each in EyeSee. Bart Luyten, a Partner at the technology investment fund Smartfin Capital comments: “As an investor in innovative companies, Smartfin Capital believes that this capital round will enable EyeSee to realize its full potential and become a key player in the behavioral marketing research sector.”

Online testing allows respondents to complete research at home

EyeSee allows companies to measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and the impact of new product launches. By applying state-of-the-art technology such as eye-tracking, facial coding, virtual shopping, and others. EyeSee created an innovative business model in market research. This technology enables measuring consumer behavior remotely through worldwide online test panels by using the respondent’s devices – standard computers or mobile phones.

Eye tracking and facial coding example output

EyeSee was founded in 2013 by Olivier Tilleuil and received its initial round of financing from business angel Stefan Grosjean. “We are excited to welcome ING Private Equity and Smartfin Capital as new partners to support our further growth into the US and Asia,” says Olivier Tilleuil. “We are well-positioned for a significant share of online market research.” Joris De Bruyne, a partner at EyeSee, adds: “The funding will allow us to expand the sales team and further invest in technological development. This will allow EyeSee to offer behavioural market research for mobile applications and increase performance by using artificial intelligence.

The funding round comes after several significant recognitions for EyeSee such as being listed as one of Deloitte’s 20 fastest-growing technology companies in Belgium for the third consecutive year, our work for Microsoft awarded the Global Market Research project of the year by Quirk’s, and Olivier Tilleuil named one of the GRIT Future list honorees.

Global coverage: Offices, testing capabilities and clients. Colored areas depict countries in which we conduct research.

About EyeSee

EyeSee is one of the fastest-growing behavioral market research companies in the world, with offices in New York, Antwerp, London, Paris, and Belgrade. Our team of over 90 employees works with the biggest global brands such as Google, Microsoft, Disney, L’Oréal, Nestlé, Colgate, Johnson & Johnson, Twitter, etc. Learn more About us.

About ING Corporate Investments

ING Belgium invests in companies with high growth potential, through its private equity division, ING Corporate Investments and with a total envelope of € 200 million. ING Corporate Investments supports small and medium-size enterprises in Belgium, providing venture, development and buy-out capital. This activity of ING Belgium is based in Brussels, and is part of the worldwide ING group. The group has been active in the private equity transactions for more than 20 years.

About SmartFin

SmartFin is a Belgian based private equity firm founded by Jurgen Ingels and Bart Luyten with +300 Mio € assets under management. The fund combines totaling successful venture capital and private equity track-record with extensive operational experience in building and managing leading international technology companies and targets investments in growth companies in the B2B technology segment with a European focus. SmartFin holds investments in a range of scale-ups including MariaDB, UnifiedPost, Itineris, Theo Technologies, Silverfin, Deliverect, Akinon, etc. 

Download the press release.