Geofeedia gets $3.5M in Funding for Social Media Intelligence Platform

by Kate Rosow Chrisman
October 16, 2014

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Imagine watching real-time information, geo-located on a specific topic, flood onto your screen from Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and more. You could watch as a protest marched through the streets of Chicago, following the steps and actions of those involved. You could even monitor events as they unfolded during a crisis. 

Such real-time information for developing events, from the protests in Ferguson and Hong Kong to flash floods in Florida to the tour de France, can be invaluable to the news media, local and national security agencies and companies. But today, venture capital and angel investors hope to speed up the growth in this emerging market by funding Chicago-based Geofeedia

On Wednesday the company announced it raised $3.5 million in Series A funding, allowing Geofeedia to significantly expand its 21 member team and further develop its software. It was a busy day for the team, as they also presented at the Venture Summit

The fast-growing SaaS company provides real-time, location-based social media intelligence. It’s another step in hyper-local information sourcing and marketing, combined with powerful algorithms and actionable intelligence. If it sounds like a mouthful, the company’s graphics make it much easier to discern.  

Hyper Local In Action

Imagine a first-responder team needs more information about a quick moving fire. In addition to using traditional methods, the team could query Geofeedia’s system, see photos from Instagram and simultaneously read twitter posts, watch youtube videos and more, all with just a 15-second delay. Results can be displayed as a map, allowing users to know where and when the action is moving, or as a collage (in a similar display style to Pinterest), seeing all the different types of post in a larger format.  

It’s easy to see why the company’s proprietary software has been such a hit — the uses for security and media seem endless, but companies interested in marketing have also jumped on board. 

Instead of just searching one or two social engines (limiting yourself to results from hashtags or keywords), Geofeedia’s software accesses publically-shared, geo-tagged posts from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, Youtube, Picasa and Viddy.

The new round of funding will allow the team to expand their big data infrastructure, according to CEO and co-founder Phil Harris. After all, to be useful to more users, the platform needs to handle billions of posts. They also plan to make the service more intelligent to include advanced alert features, more data sources and a wider breadth of data. 

Growing, Growing, and Growing

Since Built In Chicago first profiled Geofeedia, the company has continued to experience explosive growth. “This year we've grown our revenue over 350% from Q1 to Q3. We expect to more than double our team within the next year and to triple our user base and revenue,” said Harris.

The two-year-old company already has over 300 customers, ranging the gamut from businesses to government bodies. A few big name clients include CNN, the Associated Press, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and the Mall of America.

The team isn’t stopping there. They expect to triple their user base and revenue within the next year and almost double their team to 40 members in the next six months. They are looking for software and application developers, account executives, business development reps and account managers.

The Surprise

While companies can plan out growth and acquisition strategies, sometimes the way software is utilized on the ground can be surprising. For Geofeedia, that case study was the Mall of America (MOA). According to Harris, the mall originally used Geofeedia to engage shoppers at the right moment, providing relevant and helpful communications. The team at MOA realized Geofeedia had other applications for them too, including security and customer satisfaction.

They created a string of campaigns to “surprise and delight” shoppers.  “The team once came across a couple posting about being at the restaurant in the mall where they had their first date and showed up a few minutes later with flowers,” said Harris. 

It’s a far cry from a journalist or a police officer using the tool, but its another way the software can help organizations.  

Finding the Money

The Series A funding round was led by Hyde Park Venture Partners. The company raised $1.25 million back in February of this year. Other investors include Blue Vista Ventures and Glade Brook Capital.  Angel investors Tim Kopp (former CMO of ExactTarget), David Gupta (founder and CEO of SDI Enterprises) and Gene Delaney (former president at Motorola) also participated and will sit on the board of advisors.

Jobs at Geofeedia

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