CrowdSystems

CrowdSystems provides retail companies and brands with retail audit and consumer research tools, which use crowdsourcing methods to collect the data. Any smartphone user can join its TopMission platform, start to perform simple tasks and get paid by retail companies. Tasks could vary from inspecting merchandising activities to evaluating the ad campaigns or assessing the quality of store personnel. The cash raised in round A of financing will be used for further development of the platform as well as for broadening the range of tools for data mining. Previously CrowdSystems raised seed financing from Moscow Seed Fund. Quantitative analytics in retail are currently powered mostly by BTL and research agencies. Their approach cannot guarantee information accuracy and requires significant time for implementation on the country level. Meanwhile CrowdSystems is able to collect required data just in a few days after the audit starts and provides clients with detailed information supported by photo proofs, - notes Dmitry Bezyzvestnyh, CrowdSystems co-founder and CEO. TopMission allows clients not only to control the investment in sales promotion, but also to adjust activities according to changing conditions. The platform was developed in 2013 and currently works with Colgate-Palmolive, Nestle, Svyaznoy, RedBull and other FMCG brands. TopMission app has been installed by 100 000 users, who has carried out over 90 000 tasks. Over 50 projects in 450 cities have been performed over 2013. On the international market, Quri.com provides the same service to retailers. According to CrowdSystems, in Russia only 30% of planned sales promotion activities are actually performed, compared to 50% on the U.S. market. At the same time, retailers and brands are sure that their plans are implemented by 80%. - Says Sergey Azatyan, InVenture Partners cofounder and managing partner. - We are confident that CrowdSystems has all chances to become a new industry standard and to accelerate the growth of retail audit market. Using its tools, brands and retailers can get required information and assess any marketing or promo activities on a country level.