Further Funds for Podcast Analyst Barometer

Barometer, which helps advertisers pinpoint the most suitable podcasts for their ad campaigns, has raised $2.25m in a seed funding round, which it will use to expand its direct sales and engineering teams, and to invest in R&D for its brand safety platform and its new contextual offering.

Barometer's Brand Integrity Cloud uses AI models to analyze podcast transcripts for content and sentiment. This includes a media planning platform that advertisers can use to check the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) score for all digital audio content in Barometer's network, and assess podcasts based on Barometer's Host Intelligence sentiment scores. The company has also recently launched a contextual targeting solution, and plans to add 'more granular' targeting and campaign personalization capabilities.

The seed round, which had its first close in January followed by a second close in March, was led by Hearst Corporation investment fund HearstLab - which invests in women-led technology startups - Knoll Ventures, and BDMI, with participation from returning investors Outlander Labs, Altari Ventures, Brickyard and Growth Warrior Capital, and several of Barometer's angel investors. This latest investment, brings the total raised since 2019 to $4.2m.

CEO and co-founder Tamara Zubatiy (pictured) comments: 'We are excited to be partnering with HearstLab during this new phase of Barometer's growth. We believe that Hearst's position in the media space brings a strategic advantage as we continue to grow within the digital audio space and across other channels.'

Web site: www.thebarometer.co .