Data Quality Co-Op secures $1.25M in funding to transform how businesses handle and evaluate data quality

The global first-party data market is expected to surpass $140 billion by 2025, according to ESOMAR. However, as businesses increasingly depend on first-party data, challenges related to fraud, inconsistent quality, and transparency are becoming more pressing.

Seeing these challenges firsthand, Ian Haynes teamed up with his friend, Bob Fawson, and co-founded Data Quality Co-Op to transform how businesses manage and evaluate data quality.

Today, Data Quality Co-Op (DQC) announced it has raised $1.25 million in its first funding round, led by Kickstart Fund. The round also saw participation from SaaS Venture Capital, Service Provider Capital, and several key individual investors from the consumer insights, technology, and finance sectors. The funds will be used to further develop DQC’s platform.

Founded in September, the Salt Lake City, UT-based Data Quality Co-Op serves as an independent clearinghouse for data quality measurement in the insights industry. The company’s goal is to revolutionize how businesses assess and manage data quality, ensuring that decisions, campaigns, and models are powered by reliable data, according to Haynes in a LinkedIn post.

DQC’s platform

DQC’s platform aims to provide clear benchmarks and actionable insights, giving businesses the confidence to trust the data that informs their decisions. It offers continuous quality measurement and real-time certification by aggregating, analyzing, and benchmarking data quality signals from multiple sources.

By offering industry-wide norms and data quality standards, DQC allows businesses to compare their data quality with broader benchmarks and take proactive measures to prevent fraud. As more data enters the platform, network effects enhance the accuracy and depth of insights, benefiting all users.

“Data Quality Co-Op is addressing a crucial gap in the data-driven economy and is setting a new bar for data integrity in this fast-growing market,” said Tanner Potter, Partner at Kickstart Fund. “As businesses rely more heavily on first-party data, transparency around data quality becomes critical. We believe DQC’s technology will help companies trust the data behind their decisions.”

Modeled after companies like Verisk Analytics, which increased transparency in insurance, and Integral Ad Science, which did the same for digital ads, DQC’s platform aggregates data quality signals from various sources. By offering industry-wide benchmarks, businesses can compare their data quality with broader norms and take steps to mitigate fraud.

With more data feeding into the platform, its network effects only strengthen, providing even more comprehensive and accurate insights. Early clients of DQC are already benefiting from these powerful features.

“We’re committed to tackling the transparency issue head-on,” said Bob Fawson, CEO and Co-Founder of Data Quality Co-Op. “This funding will allow us to accelerate platform development and help the industry fully unlock the potential of its data.”

“Our platform strengthens quality signals across the entire market research ecosystem and related industries. It allows companies to not only measure their data quality but also improve collaboration across the supply chain,” added Ian Haynes, Co-Founder of Data Quality Co-Op.

Kickstart Fund, a seed-stage venture capital firm, has been investing in promising companies in the Mountain West since 2008. Their mission is to provide smart capital, build a connected community, and offer expert guidance, having invested in more than 150 companies to date.