Ideally Secures $13.4 Million Series A to Launch AI Market Research Platform in U.S.

AI Powered Growth and U.S. Expansion

Ideally has closed a 13.4 million dollar funding round led by Shearwater Capital to fuel its major expansion into the United States. This Series A investment coincides with the launch of Ideally Canvas, a product designed to integrate consumer feedback into the earliest stages of the creative process. The company is currently valued at over 100 million NZD following explosive growth in the Australia and New Zealand markets.

How Ideally Uses AI

The platform utilizes artificial intelligence to automate the complex workflows of traditional market research. Unlike many competitors that use synthetic AI personas, Ideally gathers responses from real people across 30 countries overnight. Large language models then analyze these responses to identify patterns, segment audiences, and generate intelligent follow-up questions based on actual human sentiment.

Real Time Insights with Ideally Canvas

The newly released Ideally Canvas tool allows marketing teams to build living datasets that compound over time. This approach ensures that every subsequent test is smarter than the last by connecting consumer attitudes with real time category dynamics. By reducing research timelines from months to under 24 hours, the tool enables brands like Google and KFC to make data driven decisions at the speed of modern culture.

Strategic New York Presence

Joshua Nu’u-Steele, Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer, has relocated to lead the company’s new office in New York. Since establishing this domestic presence earlier in 2026, the company reports that U.S. revenue has grown by 350 percent. The leadership team believes that modern brands can no longer rely on stale data to navigate rapidly changing consumer trends.

"The brands winning right now are the ones closest to their customers, and we built Ideally to give every team that closeness at the speed and scale that modern markets actually demand," said James Donald, CEO of Ideally.

The funding will support continued development of the AI driven insights engine and broader hiring across the American market. Ideally now serves more than 250 brands globally, including Revlon, Burger King, and Omnicom. For more information, visit goideally.com.