Besample

Besample operates as a data collection platform focused on addressing the significant Western-bias in behavioral science and market research. Founded in 2023 by behavioral scientist Dr. Elena Brandt and serial founder Tamila Feldman, the company aims to provide researchers with access to diverse global populations. The idea originated from Dr. Brandt's Ph.D. work in Social Psychology, where she experienced the difficulty of sourcing non-Western participants, a challenge she discussed with Feldman, who has a background in cultural studies and project management in the nonprofit sector. This shared understanding of underrepresentation fueled their mission to build an infrastructure for more inclusive global research.

The company's core service is a platform that automates the recruitment, screening, engagement, and payment of research participants across 42 countries, with a focus on Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Besample serves academics from institutions like Harvard and Stanford, as well as market research leaders such as Accenture, who require high-quality data from populations outside the typical Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) framework. The business model is centered on providing this access, with a system that algorithmizes sampling to reduce the costs associated with manual recruitment. The platform's technology vets participants for attentiveness and fidelity, filters out bots, and uses messenger apps and local fintech partnerships to engage and ethically compensate respondents based on local minimum wages. This allows for rapid data collection, typically within 2 to 14 days, and supports various methodologies including cross-cultural studies, behavioral experiments, and longitudinal research.

Since its launch, the female-founded startup has secured $1.1 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Gutter Capital, with participation from Womankind Ventures and the former CEO of Prolific, Ekaterina Damer. It is an alumnus of several accelerators, including Techstars Columbus, The Batchery, and Hive Founders. The company plans to use its funding to expand its engineering and data science teams, enhance quality control features, and increase its respondent reach in underrepresented regions. By making cross-cultural data collection more affordable and reliable, Besample is positioning itself to be a critical tool for academia, market research, and AI-driven synthetic persona modeling.

Keywords: behavioral research, global data collection, market research panels, non-WEIRD samples, cross-cultural studies, research participant recruitment, academic research tools, data diversity, participant sourcing, social science research, emerging markets data, ethical compensation, online data collection, behavioral science platform, survey respondents, global survey panel, consumer insights Africa, market research Asia, data collection South America, research automation