Venture Capital firm BonAngels has invested 600 million won (USD $530,000) in seed funding into data insight platform Measure China.
Founded earlier this year, the B2B service is aimed at companies considering or targeting the Chinese market and provides insights into social and ecommerce data. Through Measure China’s platform, companies can gain a deeper understanding of consumer behavior and preferences before or soon after entering China. Strategies which are drawn up according to current trends are also part of the service.
While there are many insight companies out there, Measure China’s biggest strength is its ability to analyze all aspects of social and ecommerce data through its automatic collection technology. This includes comparative results between competitors and trend visualizations via various social media stats (posts, followers, no. of times mentioned). This lets users target the best social channels for their product in an unfamiliar market.
ROI can also be analyzed according to activity on individual social media channels, and detailed information on product sales and rankings are also available. Measure China connects companies to relevant contacts and networks based on revenue and sales patterns from sellers on Taobao, China’s largest online shopping site.
It’s not all about social stats though, and profiling influencers is also an important part of the startup’s platform. In China, internet celebrities known as ‘Wanghong’ have a strong impact on consumer buying habits, and can mean the difference between a business taking off or closing up.
Measure China offers reach insights for around 10,000 of these wanghong and helps its clients get in touch with potential influencers and create synergy with them. So far, the company has gained 1 billion followers and 2.98 billion video views per month thanks to the influence of its wanghong network.
Clients are varied and include major corporations, government entities and startups, including LG Household & Healthcare, Seoul City and Yanolja.
Kei Chun, CEO of Measure China, says that numerous Korean companies mull over the best way to go about marketing in the huge market that is China. Collecting data on specific brands is difficult for many as they don’t have any systems in place.
“By using our platform that offers support in the form of data insights, analysis, and business plans, we want to act as a bridge for Korean companies to enter the Chinese market,” said Chun.
The company plans to use the latest investment to launch a China-based R&D center, and set up offices in Hong Kong and China.
