Social Intelligence Company, 4C, Announces $5M Series B Funding

NEW YORK, Jan. 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- 4C, a big data analytics and social intelligence company offering advertising and measurement platforms, announces today a $5M Series B funding round from Jump Capital. 4C's platforms apply algorithms based on decades of research by Dr. Alok Choudhary, professor at Northwestern University. Dr. Choudhary founded 4C, and acts as its chairman and chief scientist, to focus on using data science to analyze the world's largest collection of publicly available social data to generate true marketing intelligence. The funding will be used to build out the company's platform, launch new initiatives for the television industry, expand international operations, and support infrastructure for clients across the globe.

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"Jump Capital is a very special funding partner as they have a tremendous vision regarding how social media and big data can co-mingle. Their portfolio is highly complementary to our business model and we see many synergies that will be advantageous to both of our companies," said Lance Neuhauser, CEO at 4C. "We anticipate a long relationship with Jump Capital and are eager to make a strong mark on the data-driven marketing world as a result of this funding."

4C helps Fortune 500 brands, large agencies such as Publicis Groupe's VivaKi, and media and network companies gain actionable insights on how buyers make decisions and learn about other brands with whom they are loyal. This information illustrates how certain digital behavior affects consumer affinity – or sentiment – about a brand. 4C understands that affinity between an audience member and a brand is especially high when a brand drives strong engagement. 4C's technology helps brands use real-time, social data to inform and execute highly targeted social ads that grow affinity among key audiences.

"4C is using precise data analytics to track and deliver exactly what advertisers are most interested in: audience behavior," said Sach Chitnis, managing director at Jump Capital. "The combination of deep science, advertising experience and impressive team drew us to 4C, as did the relationships they have already built, their strong R&D culture, and the team's past entrepreneurial success.  4C's data science is truly industry leading and is providing actionable intelligence to produce remarkable results for their customers." 

4C is already working with large brands and agencies to provide audience insights though social channels. "We've been fortunate to have a unique partnership with 4C from its early foundations. Together, we've worked to help Publicis Groupe agencies and their clients better understand their consumers through data, so they can make informed buying and planning decisions," said Michael Wiley, managing director of VivaKi Ventures and chief social media officer at VivaKi. "4C's analytics coupled with its social advertising capabilities enable our brands to create stronger brand affinity and relevant connections with target audiences."

4C was created in 2013 as a result of a merger between Voxsup and The Echo System. Voxsup's expertise in mining publicly available social data was based on algorithms developed as part of Dr. Choudhary's research at Northwestern, which had also been developed to track diseases and understand climate change. Its work closely complemented that of The Echo System, which had strong advertising expertise and focused on helping ecommerce brands maximize their social investments.

About 4C
4C is a big data analytics and social intelligence platform that collects public social data and applies exclusive analysis and mapping algorithms to track relationships between audiences, behavior and brand affinity. It combines more than 20 years of university research in big data and computational science with proven advertising acumen to reveal new audience insight for brands and agencies. It is one of a handful of companies worldwide that is both a Facebook Preferred Marketing Developer Ads and Insights partner, and is Twitter Ads Certified. The company has U.S. offices in Chicago, New York, and Seattle, as well as an international office in Singapore. For more information, visit http://www.4Cinsights.com.  

About Jump Capital
Jump Capital is a Chicago-based investment firm specializing in growth capital for expansion stage companies needing investments of $2-$15mm.  Jump's investment focus centers on technology-based businesses within the healthcare, financial, telecom and business support industries. For more information visit http://www.Jump-Capital.com.

SOURCE 4C