Backed by Stanford-StartX Fund, marketing intelligence platform Knotch has now secured at least $31.5m in total funding and will now pursue technology upgrades and and internal expansion.

Knotch, a US-based brand intelligence software platform backed by Stanford-StartX Fund, the VC vehicle affiliated to Stanford University’s StartX accelerator, attracted $20m of series B funding on Monday. The round was led by VC firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and backed by unspecified existing investors including unnamed business angels. Founded in 2013, Knotch runs a marketing intelligence software platform that enables businesses to evaluate the impact of branded content; output in media formats such as videos and podcasts that engage the consumer without using traditional advertising techniques. The software tracks data signals from the brand content’s audiences including interactive behaviours, attitudinal feedback and whether their participation leads to a sale. The series B capital will fuel Knotch’s bid to improve its data collection, storage and instrumentation capabilities. Money will also go towards delivering Knotch’s product roadmap, improving customer support and pursuing business growth in North America and internationally. Hilarie Koplow-McAdams, venture partner at NEA has joined Knotch’s board of directors alongside Rob Norman, former chief digital officer at media-focused investment and consulting firm GroupM. Knotch was one of the first StartX graduates to secure a funding commitment from Stanford-StartX Fund at an undisclosed date likely to have been in 2013, when the company reportedly generated $1.5m for its seed round. Angel investors Michael Birch and Xochi Birch reportedly co-led the seed round, which was backed by fellow angels Avadis Tevanian and Lars Rasmussen, in addition to VC firms Greylock Partners and Great Oaks Venture Capital. Michael Birch and Xochi Birch returned to co-lead Knotch’s $10m series A round three years later, with participation from business angels including Beth Comstock and Jon Miller as well as unspecified existing investors, according to AlleyWatch. The company disclosed $14.3m of equity in a regulatory filing dated October 2016, though it was unclear whether the funding related to the above rounds. Anda Gansca, founder and CEO of Knotch, said: “A couple of years ago, Knotch set out to provide marketers with a solution to help them transparently understand the true impact of content across all digital touchpoints from an emotional, behavioural, demographic and, finally, business standpoint. “In that last few years, we have developed and scaled our product suite so we can integrate with the marketer across every single point for planning, benchmarking and measurement needs.”

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