YouGov buys Yabble in £4.5m deal

Yabble uses generative AI technology to produce insight. Through the acquisition, YouGov will acquire Yabble’s technology, while YouGov data will be used as the foundation for Yabble’s AI platform. 

YouGov has wholly acquired Yabble through a combination of cash and a three year earn-out contingent on revenue targets. The initial cash consideration for the acquisition is £4.5m and has been funded through existing cash resources, with the sellers reinvesting part of the proceeds in YouGov shares. 

Based in Auckland and founded by Kathryn Topp and Rachel O’Shea, Yabble has 13 full-time employees globally. The company has been developing generative AI-based tools for the research industry since 2019. 

YouGov has been working with the Yabble team over the past year to develop and launch its first client-facing AI tool, YouGov AI Qual Explorer. 

Following the acquisition, Yabble’s technology will be integrated with YouGov’s core data products with the aim of boosting the development of AI-led features and setting a standard for the use of generative AI in research. 

Steve Hatch, chief executive, YouGov (pictured), said: “Generative AI is transforming the insight landscape and with the acquisition of Yabble, YouGov is strongly positioned to take advantage of this change. 

“This acquisition will transform the way our clients derive insights from YouGov Profiles’ 2m data points and gain maximum value from YouGov’s data set.

“We have been building towards this acquisition over the past six months and we're excited to welcome Kathryn and Yabble’s team of world leading prompt engineers, machine learning experts and data and analytics professionals to YouGov."

Kathryn Topp, Yabble co-founder and chief executive, said: “The combination of Yabble’s cutting-edge AI tools and YouGov’s quality data set will provide clients with the best, fastest, most effortless insights available.”

YouGov’s announcement of the acquisition came as the company posted a trading update for the year ending 31st July, raising its guidance for 2024. YouGov said it expects group reported revenues for 2024 to be approximately £327-330m and group adjusted operating profit to be £43-46m, slightly ahead of its revised guidance communicated in June.