Funds for Shopper Targeting Firm Compare Metrics

Austin, TX-based Compare Metrics has raised $4.2m in first-round financing. The funds will be used to support 'aggressive' growth plans for its platform, which customizes merchandising for individual shoppers while creating new intelligence into how and why shoppers buy.

Set up in late 2012 by Garrett Eastham, Mikael Solomon and Stephen Goodwin, the company has developed a system which uses cognitive principles regarding how the brain uses visual and information cues to make a decision. The system combines machine learning and natural language processing and provides a personalized experience for each consumer.

Eastham comments: 'With the ever-expanding breadth of structured and unstructured information on the web, it's understandable that consumers feel overwhelmed and often paralyzed when trying to make a buying decision. However you look at it, consumers are looking for a better discovery experience.'

The firm's financing was led by Austin Ventures and comprises follow-on investment from a syndicate which includes Floodgate, Contour Venture Partners, Allegro Venture Partners and Mack Capital, as well as new independent investors. $3.5m of the total raised to date comes from Austin Ventures, and its Ventures' Venture Partner Brett Hurt, co-founder of Coremetrics and Bazaarvoice, now joins Compare Metrics as the independent Chairman of its Board of Directors.

Web site: www.comparemetrics.com .