Cuban (pictured) owns the Dallas Mavericks basketball team and film distribution firm Magnolia Pictures but is also known for his appearances as an investor on the reality TV series Shark Tank (the US version of Dragons’ Den).

He joined the CivicScience advisory board as of this month in an agreement that gives some of his portfolio companies access to CivicScience’s software and products.

CivicScience has deals with web publishers to feature short polls on their websites. It takes this data, aggregates it and mines it to sell custom survey products, brand and media tracking and predictive software tools.

CEO John Dick said: “I initially reached out to Mark to score some Mavs tickets on a recent trip to Dallas. I knew he was from Pittsburgh and thought maybe he’d throw us a bone. Next thing I know, he’s grilling me about our company like I was a contestant on one of his shows.”