Open innovation and market intelligence company Chaordix announced today that it has secured $1.5 million in Series A funding. Yaletown Venture Partners is the majority investor, with the Business Development Bank of Canada also participating in the financing. 

The company will use the funding to expand business development, roll out and improve products, and bring in new talent to help support its growing and increasingly diverse client roster. 

Founded in 2009, Chaordix makes use of crowdsourcing to help companies become more innovative, conduct better market research, and build brand loyalty. It specializes in market intelligence and forming affinity groups, which may be more helpful to certain companies than simply tapping into a large pool of individuals. Asking a group of coffee lovers and connoisseurs about a new coffee flavor, for example, can be more beneficial than asking a larger group of individuals, many of whom may not drink coffee at all. Chaordix’s approach has appealed to number of prominent enterprises, from IBM to Procter & Gamble. 

For Chaordix, the financing means more than simply capital to dedicate to projects. 

“Yaletown has actually been talking to us, watching, helping, giving advice, checking in with us for three years,” chief marketing officer Sharon McIntyre told Crowdsourcing.org “At least from our perspective, this [funding] definitely helps with credibility. Yaletown has seen the types of brands that have been attracted to our business, and what we’ve already closed and delivered on. Bringing in this investment will help us get to the next stage of development.”