Founder Stephen Phillips, 48, set up this business to automate the processes behind traditional market research. The company goes into partnership with leading market research agencies by taking their proprietary research methodology and translating it into automated software, which it says is capable of generating results in hours rather than taking the usual weeks. In 2015, ZappiStore raised £12m from Dutch venture capital firm Prime Ventures to add to an undisclosed investment from advertising giant WPP the year before. The funds helped the company to expand into America, a move that boosted revenues to £11m in 2016.