Two Canadian siblings just turned their emotional AI startup into a major exit. OneCliq, founded by Tanika McLeod and Nathan Knight, has been acquired by Dig Insights in a deal that puts emotional intelligence at the center of billion-dollar business decisions.
The acquisition brings OneCliq’s “Cultural Context Engine” into Dig Insights’ research platform, creating what could be the most advanced emotional data analysis system in market research today.
Emotional AI Meets Market Research Power
OneCliq has built something that most social listening tools can’t match. Their platform decodes emotions from online conversations, even in videos without sound. Traditional social media monitoring tells you what people say. OneCliq tells you what they feel.
Dig Insights, backed by private equity firm Beringer Capital, operates in 46 countries and powers innovation decisions for global brands including McDonald’s. Their Upsiide platform already helps companies predict which products will succeed before launch.
“With Dig, we’re turning untapped emotional data into powerful strategic decisions for global consumer brands at a speed and scale that’s never existed before,” McLeod said following the announcement.
Toronto Tech Scene Celebrates Another Exit
The McLeod-Knight sibling team started OneCliq in 2021 with backing from Antler and won the Black Founders Network’s 2023 People’s Choice Award. Both are York University alumni who met success through the YSpace accelerator program.
Their platform attracted clients including Google, Hybrid, and Merkley & Partners by solving a critical gap in market research. Most companies take weeks or months to understand consumer sentiment. OneCliq delivers emotional insights in minutes.
“People said I’ve been hiding under a rock… I was actually selling our company,” McLeod revealed in her LinkedIn announcement, adding that the team was “pursuing a bold vision for GenAI in market intelligence together.”
How OneCliq Technology Changes Market Research
OneCliq’s AI system analyzes social conversations differently than existing tools. Instead of just tracking mentions and keywords, it identifies emotional tone, sentiment patterns, and cultural context from real consumer discussions online.
The platform’s video analysis capability stands out in the crowded social listening market. It can decode emotional responses from video content even when there’s no audio track. This technology is one that competitors haven’t matched.
For Dig Insights’ clients, this means faster access to consumer feelings about products, brands, and marketing campaigns. Companies can now tap into emotional data that previously took extensive focus groups and surveys to uncover.
Private Equity Fuels Research Industry Consolidation
Beringer Capital acquired a majority stake in Dig Insights earlier as part of its strategy to build technology-enabled service companies. The OneCliq acquisition represents the fund’s continued investment in AI-powered market research capabilities.
Paul Gaudette, Dig Insights CEO and co-founder, sees the acquisition as essential for competing in an AI-driven research ecosystem. The combined platform gives researchers access to both traditional survey methods and real-time emotional intelligence from social data.
Industry observers note this follows a broader trend of established research firms acquiring AI startups to modernize their offerings. The global emotion AI market reached $2.9 billion in 2024 and projects to grow at 21.7% annually through 2034.
Emotional Intelligence Becomes Business Critical Asset
The OneCliq exit demonstrates growing appetite for emotional AI technology among traditional businesses. Consumer brands need to understand not just what customers buy, but why they make those emotional connections.
For Toronto’s tech ecosystem, the acquisition adds another success story to the city’s growing reputation in AI and machine learning. The siblings’ journey from university graduates to successful exit founders provides a template for other Canadian AI entrepreneurs.
McLeod thanked the Toronto tech community in her announcement, crediting early customers, partners, and accelerator programs for helping “build something real.”
The acquisition terms weren’t disclosed, but both companies indicated OneCliq’s team will continue to develop their emotional AI platform within Dig Insights’ broader research technology suite.
