US-based content recognition technology developer Cognitive Networks has closed a $14.5m series B round which included new investor Hearst Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of diversified media company Hearst.
Rogers Venture Partners, the corporate venturing unit of telecommunications and media company Rogers, and venture capital firm DCM Ventures returned as investors, while two undisclosed new backers also participated in the round.
Cognitive Network raised $2.5m from Rogers in a November 2012 seed round and $1.5m from DCM Ventures in a June 2013 series A. The company also obtained $2.5m in debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank in June 2013.
Cognitive Network markets an automatic content recognition platform that recognises content on Smart TVs in real time and displays relevant information to the viewer about the programme.
Michael Collette, chief executive of Cognitive Networks, said: “This latest round of financing will fuel continued enhancements of our automatic content recognition platform to meet the scaling and performance expectations of our customers while we continue to increase our lead over our competitors.”