Ideally CEO James Donald says AI is central to his firm’s software, from helping to create surveys to identifying themes responses. But he’s also wary of how some have rushed to bandwagon jump on new industry trends, including synthetic data – where he says some have implemented under-cooked solutions. His firm has its synthetic pilot, but it remains in-house at this point. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray <\/p>\n
The start-up claims 750% growth over 2024 and 2025 and 350% US revenue growth since it opened its New York office just months ago from customers including Duckhorn, Tilray and R\u00e9my Cointreau.<\/p>\n
Donald won\u2019t give financials, but the numbers have been sufficiently attractive to attract new investors. The Series A round was led by Australia\u2019s Shearwater Capital and supported by New Zealand\u2019s Altered Capital plus a second Aussie outfit, Ecliptic VC.<\/p>\n
Icehouse Ventures, which led a $6m seed extension round in 2024 and an earlier $2m seed round, also chipped in new funds.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy helping companies to explore, test, and innovate in real time, the Ideally team are proving Jevons\u2019 paradox within market research,\u201d Altered Capital managing partner McGregor Fea told the Herald.<\/p>\n
Jevons\u2019 paradox holds that if a product becomes more efficient, you actually use it more, not less. <\/p>\n
\u201cIdeally enables the digitisation of a complex role currently fulfilled by high-cost external agencies, bringing critical market insights in-house and on-demand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ideally\u2019s new product Canvas, also announced today, takes the in-house, DIY, real-time ethos further. It\u2019s designed to taste-test elements of a product or a campaign while ideas are still being kicked around in the early stages of its development.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough derisking the innovation process, Ideally helps companies to find product-market-fit faster, cheaper, and more reliably,\u201d Fea says.<\/p>\n
Icehouse Ventures chief executive Robbie Paul said, \u201cWe are seeing a fundamental restructuring of marketing departments globally, and Ideally is the infrastructure supporting that transition. <\/p>\n
\u201cTheir ability to reach a $100m valuation in just over two years while maintaining world-class capital efficiency made this a clear investment for us,\u201d says CEO Robbie Paul.”<\/p>\n
And Shearwater managing partner Zac Zavos said, \u201cIdeally has taken what was a long, expensive, waterfall research process and rebuilt it as something fast, iterative, and accessible. Once marketers experience the speed of overnight responses, it becomes indispensable. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re moving fast and building the category as they go.\u201d<\/p>\n