Nielsen and District Ventures form strategic alliance to bring expertise to small Canadian Businesses

MARKHAM, ON, Oct. 6, 2020 /CNW/ - Today, Nielsen Canada announced a strategic alliance with District Ventures, a venture capital fund investing in the food, beverage and health and wellness sectors. District Ventures will gain access to Nielsen's best-in-class retail universe in support of its investment decisions and its portfolio clients will have access to retail measurement, consumer data and innovation services to help facilitate data driven decisions.          

This alliance will empower District Ventures and its portfolio companies to make bold decisions and transform their businesses with trusted data, solutions and insights designed to drive progress. With groundbreaking technology, Nielsen provides a truly complete picture of the complex and changing Canadian marketplace that manufacturers need to innovate and grow their businesses.

"We're thrilled to be providing support and leadership to District Ventures' ecosystem and the District Ventures Accelerator Program," says Richard Lee, VP of Strategic Alliances, North America. "Having access to Nielsen's robust data assets will allow these entrepreneurial clients to better understand sales, demographic trends and consumer preferences to help develop, manufacture, market, distribute and scale their products for the Canadian marketplace."

Today, the Canadian consumer packaged goods (CPG) market is worth $87.4 billion and growing at a rate of 8% annually. Understanding the CPG industry and environment is crucial to make the best decisions for growth and economic value creation.

"District Ventures portfolio companies are on the cutting edge of Canada's CPG space, and with access to Nielsen's deep consumer insight and comprehensive data, they will be able to innovate, scale and sell even more quickly than they do right now," says Arlene Dickinson, General Partner of District Ventures. "This strategic alliance is beneficial for our entrepreneurs, for District Ventures, and for Canada's entire CPG entrepreneurial ecosystem."

About Nielsen

Nielsen Holdings plc (NYSE: NLSN) is a global measurement and data analytics company that provides the most complete and trusted view available of consumers and markets worldwide. Nielsen is divided into two business units. Nielsen Global Media provides media and advertising industries with unbiased and reliable metrics that create a shared understanding of the industry required for markets to function. Nielsen Global Connect provides consumer packaged goods manufacturers and retailers with accurate, actionable information and insights and a complete picture of the complex and changing marketplace that companies need to innovate and grow.

Our approach marries proprietary Nielsen data with other data sources to help clients around the world understand what's happening now, what's happening next, and how to best act on this knowledge.

An S&P 500 company, Nielsen has operations in over 100 countries, covering more than 90% of the world's population. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.

About District Ventures

District Ventures is Canada's leading ecosystem that focuses on bringing capital, marketing, programming and commercialization to companies in the food, beverage and health CPG industries. District Ventures is led by renowned Canadian entrepreneur Arlene Dickinson and comprised of a venture capital fund, accelerator, commercial kitchen, and marketing experts, which operate alongside each other to assist companies in increasing their sales, distribution and ultimately their company's valuation.

For more information, visit www.districtventures.ca.  

SOURCE District Ventures

MEDIA CONTACTS, Nielsen, Gillian Mosher, Global Corporate Communications, [email protected], 647-282-9714; District Ventures Capital, Jerry Nasr, PR and Social Communications Manager, [email protected], 416-585-2090