Funds and Senior Appointments for Booming Realeyes

UK-based emotion analytics specialist Realeyes has secured $16.2m in funding, which it will use to continue development of its emotion tech platform, enhance its team, and expand into new areas such as healthcare, robotics and education. Two senior appointments are also announced.

Realeyes uses webcams, computer vision and machine learning software to analyse how people feel as they watch video content online, helping users to optimise content and target the right audiences. The company is one of the fastest-growing tech businesses in the UK, having upped its revenue 932% in four years, and says more than half its 65 employees currently work in R&D. The latest investment round was led by Draper Esprit and joined by new investors Karma Ventures and Harbert European Growth Capital, together with established backers The Entrepreneurs Fund and Tera Ventures.

At the same time, the company has announced that Barry Coleman will join it from LootCrate, described as 'the fastest-growing +$100m revenue company in the US', and will take on the role of COO. Maja Pantic (pictured), a professor of affective and behavioural computing at Imperial College London who has been on the Realeyes Advisory Board for over four years, is to take a more hands-on role with the company. Both will report to London-based CEO Mihkel Jä ätma.

Jä ätma, who co-founded the company while studying at Oxford University, comments: 'We're only starting to get a tantalising glimpse at the incredible impact and disruption that AI can bring to a number of different sectors, including the creative industries. This investment will help us to expand our incredible team and further develop our pioneering emotion platform, so we can continue to be the company that leads from the front in the martech space'. He concludes: 'While we are focused on expanding our video advertising capabilities, our long-term strategy is to build a strong independent tech company that pioneers the use of affective computing across a number of different industries'.

Margus Uudam, founding partner at Karma Ventures, comments: 'Realeyes is a company that really excites us. At Karma Ventures, we're always looking for exceptional founders who are building businesses founded on deep technology that can really make a difference - and Realeyes is the perfect match. The fact the company generates so much repeat business is testament to the incredible hard work and diligence that Mihkel and his team demonstrate every day and the value of the solution they provide to their clients'.

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in London, the company also has offices in New York, Boston and Budapest. Web site: www.realeyesit.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.