UK-based information intelligence platform developer Signal AI closed a $25m series C round yesterday featuring GMG Ventures and Hearst Ventures, investment vehicles for media companies Guardian Media Group and Hearst.
The round was led by growth equity fund Redline Capital and was rounded off by venture capital fund MMC Ventures and undisclosed other existing investors.
Founded in 2013, Signal AI has built a machine learning-equipped software product that scours more than 5 million news sources in real time to extract information and compile detailed reports on potential trends, risks and opportunities within a given industry.
The platform was initially focused on supporting media relations and communications but is now also used for risk management and for tracing the origins of business deals such as mergers or acquisitions.
The series C cash will help the company identify new use-cases for its software and fund growth in the US and Asia Pacific region, the two areas it has lined up for expansion beyond its core UK market. Signal AI has amassed $43m in funding to date.
GMG Ventures and MMC Ventures co-led its $16m series B round in July 2018, investing together with Hearst Ventures and REV, a corporate venturing unit of data analytics provider RELX, as well as Frontline Ventures, LocalGlobe and Kreos Capital, which supplied debt financing.
The company had received $7.4m in a 2016 series A round in 2016 that included REV (then called Reed Elsevier Ventures), Hearst Ventures, Frontline, MMC Ventures and LocalGlobe. Signal AI had already raised $3.2m from REV, Frontline and assorted angel investors in a 2015 seed round.