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Knit Raises Seed Funding to Fuel Growth in Gen Z and Millennial Market InsightsKnit, the leading consumer insights startup that empowers brands to make customer-centric decisions through voice of consumer video feedback, today announced an oversubscribed seed funding round of $3.55M. The round is led by Silicon Road Ventures with participation from Bread and Butter Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Bootstrappers.mn, Operate Studio, and TiE Global Angels. Knit's technology enables customers to tap into a network of over 1 million Gen Z and 4 million Millennial consumers to gather on-demand video feedback and quick-turn quantitative data. Through Knit's platform, brands can upload custom research questions and get 30-90 second "selfie" video responses from hundreds of Gen Z consumers in as quickly as a few hours. With their video analysis AI, brands can then analyze hours of video feedback in minutes - getting to their consumer insights faster. "Gen Z is shaping the future of consumer trends, it's critical for brands today to be empowered with the right information to understand how to successfully engage this next generation," said Sid Mookerji, Managing Partner and Founder at Silicon Road Ventures. "Knit allows companies to gather and analyze customer feedback of this demographic with little turnaround time, making it an essential, actionable tool for marketers. Knit qualifies as a transformational technology in CommerceTech which is the focu for Silicon Road." With this investment, the Austin-based startup will continue to build out its technology to further automate the video analysis process and expand its non-Gen Z panel to become a cross-generational solution for a global customer base, starting with EMEA and LATAM. "We frequently see major brands with an appetite to better understand Gen Z and the next generation of consumers. The data we're able to provide empowers these organizations to minimize risks and drive intelligent marketing and product initiatives," said Raahish Kalaria, CTO at Knit. "We think of ourselves as an on-demand Think Tank of Gen Z consumer demographic data for brands. Our goal is to help marketers make more confident decisions to attract their fanbase of the future." Knit has observed seven times growth since its launch in January 2021 with currently over 30 enterprise customers including NASCAR, WNBA, Harman International (JBL Speakers) and Moët Hennessey (for 21+ Gen Z-ers). Led by a team of Gen Z entrepreneurs, Knit CEO Aneesh Dhawan launched his first company, a cause marketing Gen Z agency called Feed A Friend, at the age of 16. Knit CTO Raahish Kalaria joined Knit after founding and scaling FreeCopy, an ad-tech company in India, and One Remote (previously WAND Smart Systems), a computer vision-based home automation solutions, as a Gen-Z student. Dhawan and Kalaria are alumni of the esteemed Techstars' 2019 accelerator 'Farm to Fork' program, the success from this program fueled the transformation and growth of Knit. ABOUT SILICON ROAD Silicon Road Ventures (SRV) is an Atlanta-based, venture capital firm focused on building the future of commerce. SRV empowers businesses engaging in commerce to take charge in a rapidly changing world. We do this through investments in transformational tech innovation in fintech & payments, supply chain & logistics, digital commerce and enabling physical locations. Silicon Road's ecosystem approach focuses on relationships and connects entrepreneurs, startups, retailers, enterprise organizations, investors and academics to build the future of global commerce tech across eCommerce, retail and CPG. For more information, visit https://siliconroad.vc and follow Silicon Road on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. ABOUT KNIT Since 2021, Knit is on a mission to help brands make meaningful, customer-centric decisions through voice of consumer video feedback, at scale. Knit focuses on utilizing its network of young consumers to provide brands with detailed consumer insights based on video feedback and quantitative surveys. Over 30+ brand customers such as JBL, NASCAR, the WNBA and Moët Hennessey (for 21+ Gen Z-ers) leverage Knit's access to a panel of one million Gen Z consumers to gather and analyze on-demand video feedback at scale. Knit partners with emerging CPG, sports, consumer tech and other Fortune 500 brands in an effort to help guide product development and brand strategy. Through the use of its panel and innovative technology, Knit is able to generate accurate insights from quantitative, text, and video feedback to influence product and marketing decisions helping brands connect and grow faster with their audiences. Knit is based in Austin, Texas. For more information about Knit, visit https://goknit.com/.
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