London-based Bolt Insight has raised £7 million in a funding round led by Pembroke VCT, as the company seeks to advance its AI-powered consumer research platform and expand internationally. Pembroke invested £3.5 million, joined by 212, Active Partners, Velocity, and TIBAS Ventures.
Founded in 2019, Bolt Insight uses artificial intelligence to help global brands capture and analyse real-time consumer feedback through its BoltChatAI system — an AI-moderated qualitative research platform that enables companies to run large-scale, fast-turnaround interviews with real participants across global markets.
The new investment will drive the next stage of growth, supporting the development of what the company calls the Assistant AI Chief Insights Officer — a real-time intelligence platform designed to act as a decision-making partner for brands. The system will allow businesses to draw from their historical research, trigger new AI-led interviews with consumers, and generate actionable insights on demand.
Chief executive and co-founder Hakan Yurdakul, who previously spent 14 years at Unilever in brand strategy and transformation, said the business aims to bring real consumer voices into the heart of business decision-making. He added: “With the launch of BoltChatAI in 2022, we proved that AI-moderated qualitative research could deliver rich insight at unprecedented speed and scale. Today, we’re building on that foundation with a bold new ambition — to create the Assistant AI Chief Insights Officer, a real-time intelligence system that can answer critical business questions instantly or engage real consumers when new thinking is needed.”
Pembroke chief executive Andrew Wolfson said the company represents a strong example of how AI can lead change in an established industry. “Hakan, Kerem and the rest of the team have built an impressive platform trusted by some of the world’s biggest brands,” he said. “As demand for real-time intelligence continues to grow, Bolt is perfectly positioned to lead a new generation of consumer understanding.”
Investor Ali Karabey, managing director at 212, said the company’s approach “makes real human insight more accessible, faster, and more globally inclusive.”
Bolt Insight’s client base includes 11 of the world’s top 15 consumer packaged goods companies, among them Unilever, Danone, and Reckitt. Its platform has already facilitated over five million consumer interviews across 90 markets, achieving a 90% client renewal rate.
The leadership team also includes co-founder and chief technology officer Kerem Turgay, an engineer trained at Harvard and ETH Zurich, alongside co-founders Baybars Umur, Ester Marchetti, and Melek Özsoy. The company’s 50-strong team operates across London, Istanbul, Paris, New York, and Singapore.
The global market research industry is valued at around $153 billion, with North America accounting for more than half of total spend. Bolt Insight’s latest round builds on earlier investment from pre-seed, seed, and 2023 rounds, which funded market expansion and team growth. The new capital will support its ambition to integrate AI deeper into the research lifecycle — turning consumer insight from a project-based process into a continuous, intelligence-driven function within organisations.
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