Funds for Social Media Video Analyst Viral Moment

Menlo park, California-based social media video insights and analytics provider ViralMoment has secured $2.5m in a seed round of investment, with which to widen the scope of its video-reading AI.

ViralMoment's AI tracks every brand mention, emotion and product within a social media video in real time, giving users a full view of what's trending, including changes in online image and reputation. The technology has analysed more than one billion videos to date.

The company was formed by two female founders with previous experience developing tech solutions for the Department of Defense and NASA, and prides itself on its high-volume capability. For example it says when peak traffic surrounding last year's Barbie movie reached more than 4,300 videos a day in April, resulting in 425 million views, its software 'was able to capture everything - from top participating influencers to most commonly featured products - offering a complete picture for brands to get ahead of the trend'.

The funding round was led by Supernode Global, with participation from funds including Crush Ventures, Duo Partners, Carnegie Mellon University and Techstars.

CEO Chelsie Hall comments: 'In today's world, every brand needs to become an entertainment company - and the best ones give their customers the microphone. But this can quickly get away from brands in the fast-paced world of short-form video, as they struggle to cut through the noise and keep up. Online creators can make or destroy a brand in one 30-second video that goes viral. ViralMoment allows brands to take control of their narrative, instead of the other way around'. CTO Sheyda Demooei says the amount of traffic each day on social video 'can be overwhelming, making it seemingly impossible for brands to keep up', but notes that 'just because a brand can't see the damage happening, doesn't make it less impactful. Our platform makes the social world transparent'.

Web site: www.viralmoment.com .