Mobile Research Firm Gets $2.5M Investment

Five Elms Capital of Kansas City, Kan., has invested $2.5 million in Field Agent, a Fayetteville-based company specializing in mobile research and retail data collection, the companies said in a recent news release.

Field Agent mainly serves consumer packaged goods companies and retailers with its mobile app that collects data like product pricing and availability from shoppers.

CEO Rick West said the firm will use the funds to expand into other industries such as real estate and restaurants.

Also, the company, which has 20 employees in Fayetteville, will probably add 10 more by the end of the year, West said, and another 15 throughout the U.S. Field Agent has about 50 employees worldwide, he said, and operates in countries including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the U.K., Norway and Finland.

About 240,000 shoppers who have downloaded the app use it to “mystery shop,” audit promotional displays and perform other services much faster than traditional providers can — and at a far lower cost, West said.

Users are paid for the information they provide, he said.

“The really cool thing about this is when we launched in April 2010, we were the very first app that did this, so we broke new ground,” West said.

Smith Hurst PLC of Fayetteville served as legal counsel to Field Agent and represented it in the investment transaction, the news release stated. Husch Blackwell LLP represented Five Elms Capital, which invests in a wide range of service-based industries.