Defining the New AI Market Research Platform
An AI market research platform is a software system that uses artificial intelligence to automate finding target consumers, running research conversations, and turning their responses and behavioral data into usable insights for brands in hours instead of weeks. Pogo’s launch of an AI research platform powered by purchase verified buyers shows how quickly this model is moving from theory to practice. The company connects brands with thousands of real buyers of any product, based on SKU-level transaction data, and runs AI-moderated interviews and quantitative surveys at scale. Rather than depending on panels that may contain survey bots or unqualified respondents, the platform focuses on people whose purchases have been verified. For brands, this means higher data quality, faster turnaround, and a path toward always-on consumer insights AI that ties research directly to real-world shopping behavior.
From Survey Bots to Purchase-Verified Buyers
Traditional market research has been troubled by fraud, including survey bots and respondents who misrepresent themselves to qualify, leaving brands to make high-stakes decisions on shaky data. Pogo’s approach centers on purchase verified buyers: consumers whose card transactions, digital and physical receipts, app usage, and location visits confirm what they actually buy. According to Pogo, its consumer app has 3 million opted-in users and visibility into 1 in every 150 shopping trips, spanning more than USD 470 billion (approx. RM2.17 trillion) in transaction value. This dataset lets brands target precise audiences, such as buyers of a product that launched last week or high-value customers who switched to a competitor. For consumers, the system offers control over which data uses they join and the opportunity to earn and save money in exchange for sharing real-world behavior.
AI-Moderated Conversations at Massive Scale
Pogo’s AI market research platform automates the full research workflow, from audience definition to insight delivery. Brand teams describe the audience they want, and the platform identifies matching purchase verified buyers within its user base. The consumer insights AI then generates a discussion guide and runs thousands of AI-moderated video interviews in parallel, producing transcripts, highlight reels, and synthesized findings in a matter of hours. Brands can also layer in quantitative surveys and set always-on triggers so that buyers are contacted when their behavior changes, catching feedback while decisions remain fresh. This level of research automation helps teams move from periodic, project-based studies to continuous listening. A private label food manufacturer reported that receipt-verified data from Pogo gave them enough confidence to present findings internally and immediately make a business decision expected to have a multi-million dollar impact.
Real-World Use Cases Across Sectors
The new model of brand research automation is already being applied across diverse categories where consumer behavior matters. A leading packaged goods company used Pogo’s platform to interview buyers of a new product, spotting packaging issues early enough to adjust its supply chain before a broader rollout. A top technology firm studied robotaxi users to understand why some riders return while others stop after one trip, feeding insight back into product and service design. A Fortune 500 food manufacturer used the platform to build a multi-year view of how GLP-1 medications are changing what people buy. Investment firms are also turning to purchase verified buyers; one investor used Pogo to find paying Gen Z subscribers of an AI tool as part of due diligence. These examples show how AI-driven consumer research can shape decisions beyond marketing, from operations to capital allocation.
Funding, Trust, and the Race for High-Fidelity Insight
To build out its AI market research platform and expand its network of purchase verified buyers, Pogo has raised USD 32 million (approx. RM148 million) from investors including Josh Buckley’s Buckley Ventures, Mantis, 20VC, Village Global, Lenny Rachitsky, and the founders of Honey. The company also operates a loyalty-focused consumer app that Newsweek has rated the number one loyalty app in the United States for two years in a row, signaling that users see value in exchanging data for tangible rewards and savings. As public data sources for AI become saturated, Pogo argues that the real edge for brands will be “high-fidelity consumer feedback” grounded in actual transactions and the stories behind them. The long-term promise is a trusted source of human truth that links what people bought, when, and how often with their motives and emotions.
