ImpactAlpha, April 24 – Interest in running for office is spiking in the U.S., especially among women. Change Research has secured seed funding to help candidates for lower-level offices with low-cost voter polling. The Silicon Valley-based civic tech company aims to help down-ballot candidates use data science to target messaging. “Dozens of candidates — from city council to the highest offices — have told me they didn’t have enough insights to win their elections,” says Change Research’s Mike Greenfield.
Using online polling, Change Research says it is able to charge a fraction of what large polling companies do. The startup’s messaging suggests that it mostly works for Democratic candidates, and looks to support women and minority candidates. Change Research tested its model in the special elections in Virginia and New Jersey last year.
- Reid Hoffman… The co-founder of Linkedin led Change Research’s seed round. Greenfield previously was a LinkedIn data scientist.
- Civic tech boomlet… BallotReady, another civic tech startup, last week secured $1.5 million in seed funding.
