Likely, the Silicon Roundabout-based social data analytics provider, has announced the completion of a £1 million equity investment led by growth capital specialists New World Private Equity together with seed and early stage specialists Charlotte Street Capital.
The £1 million investment has enabled Likely to expand its sales and marketing efforts internationally and to build the product development team in the UK. Stephen Altman from NWPE and Bo Pedersen from Charlotte Street Capital will both join the board of Likely.
Since it founded in 2011, Likely has created a data set of more than five billion social interactions – such as follows, shares and comments – to better understand how people cluster around things they are interested in, allowing Likely to understand exactly what will attract people to a brand’s social media presence.
To date, Likely has helped companies such as Coca-Cola and the British Government develop their presence on Facebook.
Daniel Shore, CEO of Likely has said that brands are currently getting social completely wrong. He commented: “Their content is all ‘me, me, me’ and pays little attention to what their audience actually wants to hear. We are turning this model on its head by understanding what an audience already gets excited about and aligning the brand acquisition strategy and messaging with those topics.
“A brand is simply a collection of ideas that people are passionate about – we are using the vast amounts of data generated by social media to better understand and tap in to these passion points.”
Stephen Altman, co-founder and partner at New World Private Equity, said of the deal: “Likely’s founders have utilised their expertise and vision to spearhead the development of social data analytics at a time when big data is changing markets and businesses forever.
“Likely was brought to our attention as they enable early adopters of their techniques to steal an enormous advantage over their competitors. This was a key factor in generating significant levels of investor interest.”