Netcall, a software company increasingly interested in how social media data can transform and benefit client business, has invested up to £250,000 in a £1m series A round for UK-based Macranet (trading as Sentiment). Elderstreet VCT also participated in the funding.
Sentiment’s cloud-based platform monitors global social media, providing solutions in the area of customer insight, lead generation and customer service.
The deal was led by William Horlick of Elderstreet who said in a statement: “Elderstreet are delighted to have invested in Sentiment. We believe their market leading technology coupled with the partnership with Netcall in the contact centre market will help to grow the business rapidly.”
Investors find the company attractive since its users are able to analyse social media information across multiple social networks and engage through a single integrated application. Netcall’s investment is strategic since Sentiment’s social media engagement platform will be linked with the Netcall Liberty platform. Netcall’s customers will be able to manage, monitor and optimize customer engagement through social channels (such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn), blogs and other publicly available social and online news media, alongside the more traditional channels of telephone, mobile, web and email. Netcall is also introducing web chat.
Henrik Bang, Chef Executive Officer of Netcall, said of the investment, “Our strategy is to continuously expand our customer engagement capabilities by adding valuable functionality to the Liberty platform…Sentiment’s powerful platform provides meaningful intelligence to its customers, allowing them to monitor global social media and proactively engage with customers. Through this investment and partnership, we will be bringing these powerful capabilities to our customers via the Liberty platform, ensuring they have all the tools they require to meet the growing needs of their customers and prospects.”
The platform is currently used by 200 companies across the globe including Alitalia, Deutsche Bank, The Environment Agency, PR Newswire and Peer 1 Hosting. Sentiment was founded in 2007.
In conjunction with the funding, Sentiment announced the appointment of Elderstreet co-founder and managing director Michael Jackson to the Sentiment board of directors as chairman. Michael was previously chairman of FTSE 100 companies The Sage Group plc and PartyGaming plc.