A unit of communications group WPP has led a $5.7m funding round for emotion measurement business Affectiva.
WPP’s consumer insight division, Kantar, was joined in the series B round by Myrian Capital.
Affectiva was set up in 2009 by US university Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) scientists Rosalind Picard and Rana el Kaliouby, based on research from the MIT Media Lab.
Affectiva previously raised $2m in 2010, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. This provides an estimate of at least $7.7m raised by the company.
Eric Salama, chief executive of Kantar, said: "Affectiva is at the forefront of emotion measurement science and of developing technologies that are fast, scalable and easy to use outside of the lab in the real world….We plan to incorporate Affectiva technology into key areas of our offer, including communications research and innovation work."
Affectiva uses computers to test what people feel to improve products and experiences. Affectiva said it would use the financing to speed up the development and marketing of Affdex, its emotion recognition software. Affdex reads emotional states from facial expressions using a webcam.
WPP and Myrian will take seats on Affectiva’s board.