--- title: "Why Metaforms Is Fixing Market Research’s Real Mess: The Manual Grind" description: Metaforms drives efficiency in market research with AI–powered automation, freeing analysts to focus on quality insights for better business decisions author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief) date: 2025-07-31T11:05:00.000Z updated: 2026-03-09T12:22:40.707Z canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/why-metaforms-is-fixing-market-research-s-real-mess-the-manual-grind image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/Metaforms-cofounders-Arjun-S-and-Akshat-Tyagi-on-sofa.jpeg categories: Productivity content_type: Spotlight region: Global publication: Sovereign Magazine about: - type: Organization name: Metaforms description: Metaforms is the AI platform that helps market research agencies operate smarter and win more business. Our AI Agents augment research teams’ work output across survey programming, data processing, bidding management, and voice research; enabling them to handle exponentially more projects while maintaining quality. Find out more at www.metaforms.ai url: https://www.metaforms.ai/ --- It’s 4pm on a Tuesday and your market research agency just landed a pharma client wanting to test whether doctors prefer pills or sachets for a new drug. The excitement lasts roughly 30 seconds before reality hits. Someone needs to convert hundreds of questions into survey code, coordinate with five to 10 panel providers via endless email chains, write validation scripts to catch bad data and track quotas across multiple countries. It’s skilled work, but it’s also tedious, manual labour that keeps your best researchers buried in spreadsheets instead of generating the insights clients actually pay for. This isn’t a story about lacking talent or demand. It’s about an industry choking on its own operational complexity. ## The $130 Billion Bottleneck The global market research industry is forecasted to generate around [$140 billion in revenue](https://backlinko.com/market-research-statistics) in 2024, yet agencies are turning down work not because they can’t do it, but because [clunky processes make it impossible to meet client expectations](https://www.greenbook.org/insights/insights-industry-news/4-trends-shaping-market-research-in-2025). Research teams face unprecedented pressure to deliver insights faster while maintaining quality, all whilst profit margins get squeezed by competition from DIY self-service platforms. The problem isn’t a shortage of brilliant researchers or lack of client demand. It’s that nearly half of researchers struggle with basic operational challenges like [distinguishing AI-generated survey responses from real ones](https://www.greenbook.org/insights/grow-your-insights-business/the-critical-need-for-integrated-market-research-operations-in-2025), while manual survey programming creates bottlenecks that limit agency capacity. When skilled analysts spend their days wrestling with technical busywork instead of uncovering consumer behaviour, something’s gone wrong. Akshat Tyagi, co-founder and CEO of Metaforms, puts it simply: ‘Our goal is simple: help great research teams spend less time firefighting and more time doing the work that actually matters.’ ## Automating the Grunt Work Metaforms builds [AI agents designed to slot into research agencies’ existing workflows](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/ai-agents-take-centre-stage-logicflo-s-2-7m-seed-backs-human-guided-automation-in-pharma), handling the repetitive processes that limit capacity and erode margins. Instead of replacing research expertise, the platform acts as what Jonathan Tice, formerly Chief Customer Officer at Forsta, calls a productivity booster. ‘Metaforms has been incredibly successful thanks to their uniquely thoughtful approach to modernising research operations—embedding seamlessly into the workflows, tools and platforms that researchers and agencies already use,’ Tice explains. Here’s what that looks like in practice. When a pharmaceutical company wants to survey doctors about drug preferences, Metaforms’ agents automatically convert questionnaires into survey code, flag problematic data before it breaks the project, coordinate with panel vendors and track quotas across complex multi-country studies. The technology integrates with existing tools like [Confirmit](https://www.confirmit.com/), SPSS and Decipher rather than forcing agencies to rip out systems they’ve spent years perfecting. ## Where the Money’s Going Today, Metaforms announced a $9 million Series A funding round led by Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia India), with participation from Nexus Venture Partners and Together Fund. The investment brings total funding to just over $10 million and will be used to grow the team, expand into new workflows like report generation and voice-based research, and deepen integrations with industry-standard platforms. ‘We’re thrilled to partner with Akshat and Arjun as they reimagine what a market research agency could look like in an AI-first world,’ said Shailendra Singh, Managing Director at Peak XV Partners. ‘Metaforms is scaling rapidly, by enabling some of the largest research agencies globally to automate workflows such as survey programming and data processing through their suite of AI agents.’ ## Early Results Tell the Story Since launching commercially just six months ago, Metaforms has signed four of the world’s top 20 research agencies, including Strat7, one of the largest market research agencies globally. The platform now processes over 1,000 surveys per month and serves Fortune 500 companies. The expansion numbers reveal something important: every customer that started with a single AI agent has scaled up to adopt additional ones, achieving a 100% expansion rate. That’s not typical for enterprise software, where companies often pilot a tool and let it gather dust. ‘Our partnership has delivered strong ROI, thanks to Metaforms’ exceptional service and prompt support,’ said Tabita Razaila, Head of Operations at Strat7. ## Making Research Accessible Beyond Fortune 500s The wider implications go beyond operational efficiency. By compressing turnaround times and [reducing operational costs](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/mega-ai-11m-series-a-smb-growth-engine), [Metaforms enables agencies to serve clients they would otherwise turn away](https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/market-research-trends/), from early-stage startups testing their first ideas to global brands launching multi-country trackers. This accessibility angle stems from the founders’ personal frustration. Akshat Tyagi and Arjun S launched Metaforms in 2022 after struggling to access professional market research as early-stage entrepreneurs. The problem wasn’t demand—it was bandwidth. Research agencies wanted to help but couldn’t justify the operational overhead for smaller projects. ‘They’re not just automating tasks—they’re rebuilding research infrastructure for the modern era,’ said Manav Garg, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Together Fund. ‘With their early traction across global agencies, Akshat and Arjun are showing what’s possible when deep customer empathy meets technical ambition.’ ## The Expansion Plan Looking ahead, Metaforms plans to triple its team and continue expanding the breadth of its agent capabilities. Voice research, automated report generation and expanded language support are all on the roadmap. The long-term vision is to process over 100,000 surveys per year and make professional-grade research available to every business that needs it. The company is building towards deeper integrations with platforms researchers already use daily, rather than creating yet another tool they need to learn. Upcoming integrations with [Decipher](https://www.decipher.com/) and SPSS reflect this philosophy of working within existing systems rather than disrupting them unnecessarily. ## What This Means for Business Decision-Makers If business leaders want real insight from market research, they need agencies that aren’t bogged down by administrative busywork. The [research industry faces margin pressure from multiple directions](https://www.ibisworld.com/united-states/industry/market-research/1442/)—DIY platforms, faster client demands, rising operational costs—but the response can’t be to eliminate the human expertise that makes research valuable in the first place. [AI tools like Metaforms aren’t about eliminating researchers](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/when-machines-shop-preparing-your-business-for-ai-powered-buyers). They’re about finally letting experienced analysts focus on what clients actually pay for: thoughtful analysis of consumer behaviour, not hours of manual data wrangling. When agencies can handle more projects without burning out their teams, everyone wins—researchers do more meaningful work, clients get better insights and smaller businesses gain access to professional research that was previously out of reach. As Akshat Tyagi puts it: ‘When research agencies grow, better business decisions get made. We’re not here to replace the humans in the loop. We’re here to give them the support they need.’ **About Metaforms** Metaforms is the AI platform that helps market research agencies operate smarter and win more business. Our AI Agents augment research teams’ work output across survey programming, data processing, bidding management, and voice research; enabling them to handle exponentially more projects while maintaining quality. Find out more at www.metaforms.ai [Website](https://www.metaforms.ai/)