Upfront Analytics Ltd, a startup led by two former Walt Disney executives that received €250,000 from taxpayers through Enterprise Ireland, has entered liquidation as a creditors' voluntary winding up.

Founders Amber Brown (pictured) and Joe Marks invested €125,000 between them in the startup in 2012.

The company uses an Android app called The Pryz Manor to research American consumers. The idea is that consumers are incentivised by cash prizes to play the app which gathers data on their awareness, sentiment and behaviour towards products and brands.

According to the firm: “Our games allow us to tap into respondents who have no interest in participating in traditional research methods, eliminating a large portion of the selection bias found with focus groups and surveys.”

Upfront Analytics started trading in the Guinness Enterprise Centre and then relocated to Dun Laoghaire. In April 2014, the company raised €696,000 from private investors, led by Roebury Nominees (€475,000), a Kevin Warren vehicle. Private clients of Davy invested €200,000 in that round.

In Association with

Total equity invested at the end of 2014 stood at €930,000. Accumulated losses in December 2014 amounted to €1,552,000. Bernard Collins, who joined the board in April 2014, resigned as a director in April 2016.