New Funds for Publishing and Studio Analytics Firm StoryFit

US-based StoryFit, which delivers insights and predictive analytics for the book publishing, movie, and TV production industries, has raised $1.75m in new funding, which it will use to extend the roll out of its platform.

This data-driven platform uses artificial intelligence (AI) to measure more than 100,000 content features and compare these to thousands of other books or scripts to generate insights. The firm says that combining NLP (natural language processing) and machine-learning expertise with an understanding of narrative content, helps storytellers acquire the best content, identify the most effective story elements for audience engagement, track development changes, and determine the appropriate audience.

New funding has been led by ff Venture Capital, with participation from Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (BDMI), Ascend Venture Capital, and angel investor Walt Winshall, along with continued investments from Techstars and Capital Factory. Financing will be used to hire new staff and for further advancements in content-based analytics, including predictive technology, audience identification, and industry trends.

Commenting on the funding, founder and CEO Monica Landers (pictured) said: 'The strategic and operational support we'll receive from this stellar group of investors is as important as the funding. We look forward to benefiting from the breadth of media and publishing connections and experience that our investors can provide and we're excited by both the new participants in this round as well as those that are returning,'

Separately, StoryFit has recently expanded its senior team with the appointment of Rudy Prince as Chief Operating Officer. He joins with 30 years' experience serving as mentor, advisor and exec to several start-ups, and having founded eFax.com, where he led the firm's IPO and later acquisition by J2Global. In addition, the company has promoted data scientist Mark Bessen to Chief Technology Officer. Bessen, who joined the firm in 2017 from Apple, focuses on using machine learning technology to understand the core elements of stories that resonate with audiences.

Web site: www.storyfit.com .