US-based news analytics platform NewsWhip raised $6.4m yesterday in a series A round backed by a consortium featuring media organisation Associated Press (AP) and publisher Asahi Shimbun.
Venture capital fund Tribal Ventures led the round, which included enterprise support agency Enterprise Ireland, Matter VC, Social Starts, unnamed clients of investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and AIB Seed Capital Fund, which was established by financial services firm Allied Irish Banks and Enterprise Ireland.
Founded in 2011, NewsWhip operates an analytics platform that scours social media and other platforms to identify breaking stories or trending topics. The product is used by clients including AP and Asahi Shimbun, as well as the Washington Post and BBC.
The funding will enable NewsWhip to further build out its platform. Tribal Ventures founder Conor Stanley will join the company’s board of directors.
Jim Kennedy, senior vice-president of strategy and enterprise development at AP, and an unnamed representative of Cantor Fitzgerald will join NewsWhip’s board as observers.
NewsWhip had previously raised more than $1.6m from AP, 500 Startups, Tribal, Matter, Social Starts and SaaS Syndicate in 2015, after Enterprise Ireland and AIB Seed Capital Fund had supplied $1.1m in 2013.