Adelaide-based startup Amplified Intelligence has closed a post-seed funding round of $3 million to fund global expansion of its attention-measuring tools.
The round is led by TEN13, an investment syndicate co-founded by entrepreneur and Shark Tank panel member Steve Baxter.
Amplified, founded by professor Karen Nelson-Field, gives advertisers a more accurate picture of how much attention their campaigns are generating, helping to maximise media spend and minimise wastage.
The new funds will be used to accelerate the company’s product roadmap and expand its commercial team around the world, including making its first hires in the UK and US to service its growing client base.
It’s the first external capital taken by the company, ahead of an expected Series A funding round in 2022.
The company's product is used by the biggest brands, agencies and platforms in the world, including OMD, WPP, Shell, Mars, Pepsi, Twitter, Facebook and Spotify.
This week Melbourne independent media agency Hatched announced it is working with Amplified to implement the media planning platform attentionTRACE, a tool which gauges the level of attention people are paying when engaging with advertising on mobile devices and TV screens.
The data collection includes more than 264,000 ad views with continual updates and plans to broaden collection to include audio, out of home and cinema.
Nelson-Field on the capital raise: “These are incredibly exciting times for Amplified Intelligence. Following significant interest from across the investor community, I’m delighted to have the support of TEN13, who know our industry well and totally share our vision for change via rigorous means. This is super important to me.
“Having this investment will help us scale our pioneering tech, invest in R&D and expand our talented teams. It means that Amplified can continue to lead the way in making attention the gold standard for ad success and change the advertising landscape for the better.”
Stew Glynn, managing partner at TEN13,: “The media sector is at a serious inflection point and Amplified currently has the lead position globally in attention-tracking software across multiple media formats.
"We believe the timing is right for their opportunity given the demise of the cookie and the emerging realisation across the industry that advertising should be measured on the value captured (attention) rather than impressions.
“Amplified has a transformative vision for the shift towards an attention-based global advertising standard -- Karen has literally written the book on the ‘Attention Economy’ topic.
"CPM and impressions will no longer be the only metric and currency for advertising buying and thus ad spend will rightly shift to a new metric based on attention-adjusted seconds where advertising has been consumed - a more transparent currency of advertising value. We are excited to be a part of their growth.”
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