Affectv secures £2M funding from Octopus to secure pole position in the fast-growing audience technology market

Affectv technology looks set to transform digital advertising market. Significant growth potential as advertising spend continues to shift towards solutions that optimise targeted campaigns

Octopus today announced that it has made a £2 million investment into Affectv, the UK’s leading audience technology company that is transforming the way advertisers approach targeted online media campaigns. The funding from Octopus will be used to support the continued growth of the company as it looks to develop its products and expand its sales and technology teams.

Affectv secures £2M funding from Octopus to secure pole position in the fast-growing audience technology market http://t.co/OI3aj9t0At

— Affectv (@Affectv) July 23, 2013

The Affectv technology enables advertisers to be more targeted with their digital advertising. To date most advertisers target their audience online based on what people have previously just browsed or searched for on the internet. Affectv’s solution now enables them to target potential customers based on what information they have actively shared online, which is a much clearer signal of their interest and engagement, enabling companies to achieve more efficient advertising campaigns. Additionally, through understanding how people interact socially online with one another, Affectv is able to translate these behaviours to enable its customers to understand who else could be interested in their brand.

Working in partnership with some of the world’s leading media agencies, Affectv has already achieved significant traction in its market with its technology securing several blue-chip companies among its customers.

Commenting on the investment, Frederic Lardieg, a member of the ventures team at Octopus, said: “Affectv has developed a really innovative and scalable solution for the online advertising industry. The technology enables companies to develop a sophisticated advertising campaign that can target and access potential new customers based on their social interactions online.

The team is impressive and has already proven the value of their technology in its ability to change the way companies approach online advertising. This, coupled with the innovative products that Affectv currently has in its pipeline, makes it a really exciting opportunity. We are looking forward to working with the team as the business enters its next phase of growth.”

Headquartered in the UK, Affectv is now looking to expand into internationally supported by a buoyant online advertising market. For example, the online display advertising market in Europe is expected to grow by 60% over the next three years to €7.7 billion in 2016 from €4.7 billion in 2012, according to Forrester’s latest report.

In the UK alone, display advertising across the internet and mobile is currently a £1 billion market currently (source: The Internet Advertising Bureau UK (IAB), October 2012).

Glen Calvert, Founder and CEO of Affectv, added: “We’re extremely excited to be partnering with Octopus, they have shown a thorough understanding of the confluence between digital media, social and big data, and have a proven track record of identifying significant opportunities. This round of funding will enable Affectv to further develop our proprietary technology platform and expand internationally, and we felt the Octopus team had the experience and network to help us achieve our vision.”