Discuss.io enables brands to have video conversations with their customers to get deep insight into how their products are perceived, as well as using video focus groups to aid development. The company uses crowdsourcing to help brands learn more about their consumers in a matter of days in the hope of reducing the time they have to wait for answers, given research projects previously could take months.

Interviews are conducted via webcam and participants can be recruited via brands’ own lists or a global community of over 15 million people.

Receiving investment from Unilever Ventures as part of its total $2.28m (£1.75m) funding, Unilever is also one of Discuss.io’s major clients and the company’s consumer and markets insights director believes the technology “has fundamentally disrupted the way Unilever approaches connecting with consumers and global focus groups”.