Tracksuit scores $6.8 million in seed funding to change how brands track and communicate their value

A brand tracking startup, that gives businesses the power to make data-driven decisions around brand marketing at a fraction of the cost of traditional brand tracking, has raised $6.8 million in its first-ever funding round.

Tracksuit was founded in 2021 by New Zealand-based co-founders Matt Herbert and Connor Archbold, as a new way for companies to measure, understand and, communicate the value of a brand. It was founded in partnership with TRA Labs, the venture studio arm of premier insights agency TRA, and innovation and venture studio Previously Unavailable.

Built from best-in-class methodology, Tracksuit’s brand tracking tool has been used for more than 180 Australian and New Zealand consumer brands and counting, including Eucalyptus, Heaps Normal and Bondi Sands.

Tracksuit surveys thousands of people each week from panels around the world so that brands can track their consumer awareness, consideration and preference across different markets and demographics, while also bench-marking themselves against their competitors.

The $6.8 million seed round was led by Blackbird, Icehouse Ventures, Ascential, Shasta Ventures and, marketing legend Mark Ritson. Lead investor Blackbird, which has backed companies like Canva since 2012, is backing Tracksuit with a $3.6 million investment.

Co-founder Matt Herbert told SmartCompany that Tracksuit exists to create a common language to communicate the value of brands.

“We’re looking to champion consumer brands and marketers so we can support those consumer brands, and we’ve received a great response from many Australian and New Zealand consumer brands,” he said.

“Some brands don’t have the budget or the resources, so Tracksuit provides them with the tools they need to grow. Tracksuit’s affordable and always-on brand tracking has taken the market research model and made it 10 times easier to understand and 10 times more affordable.”

“After being bootstrapped for the first 20 months, the round marks Tracksuit’s first external investment, so we are very excited.”

Archbold said the vision is for Tracksuit to be used in every strategic growth conversation for the best consumer brands of today and tomorrow.

“We exist to be the common language to measure, understand and, communicate the value of brand building,” he said.

“We want to change the world and we hope that one of the ways we’ll do that is by showcasing a very human and team-centric way to build a billion-dollar-business from New Zealand.”

Since launching in early 2021, Tracksuit has grown to 20 full-time employees and the business is now tracking more than 1300 brands across Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and, New Zealand.

Herbert said they were hoping to build the future of brand marketing in Australia.

“When we started Tracksuit 20 months ago, we built a cash-flow positive, bootstrapped business. When the demand for our product skyrocketed, we went into investor conversations with confidence knowing we had the backing of an incredible team and strong metrics,” he said.

“The level of immediate demand for Tracksuit is indicative of the shift in consumer businesses, who are focusing less on immediate conversion and more on building long-term growth through highly effective, creative marketing.”