Founded in 2019, Discussnow collects and analyses data from conversations between invited participants on messaging apps including WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

Clients include research and advertising agencies and brands, and the platform can be used for digital ethnography, concept and ad testing, customer experience and employee feedback.

The acquisition will expand Bilendi’s online qualitative data collection and integrate Discussnow’s insight collection and qualitative tools, including community management, into its existing services.

It will also allow Bilendi to adopt new technology approaches using the SaaS model.

Both companies are headquartered in Paris. Bilendi also has offices in the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Morocco, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

Following the acquisition, Discussnow will eventually be renamed Bilendi Discuss. There are no staffing changes as a result of the deal and the two co-founders of Discussnow will work to integrate the Bilendi team. Co-founder William Yattah remains the product owner of the platform on a European level.

The financial terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed.

Marc Bidou, founder and chief executive, Bilendi (pictured), said: “The Covid-19 crisis has accelerated the migration of market research activities from offline to online. This was already the case for quantitative studies and the trend has now accelerated for qualitative studies.

“Discussnow’s technologies are at the heart of these trends and will be a tremendous asset for Bilendi to meet the new requirements that emerge in this market.”

William Yattah, chief executive and co-founder of Discussnow, said that the deal would allow Discussnow to “deploy its technology on a European scale faster”, adding: “We are also happy to be able to offer our customers a global solution, combining technology and recruitment.”