Octopus Interactive, a US-based provider of interactive content displays for ride-hailing vehicles, has collected $10.3m from investors led by Sinclair Digital, a division of mass media firm Sinclair Broadcast Group, TechCrunch has reported.
MathCapital, an investment firm and affiliate of programmatic advertising technology company MediaMath, also took part in the round.
Octopus supplies taxi drivers with computer tablets for their passengers to use during their journey, providing free-to-view weather reports and advertisements along with the option of playing cash prize games.
The content runs in a 13-minute loop but can be silenced by the passenger via the tablet’s dashboard. Octopus claims to reach more than 3 million people each month from 10,000 in-taxi screens in markets including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
Octopus was created by the founders of restaurant search app Spotluck – Cherian Thomas and Bradford Sayler – who later decided devote the parent company’s focus to the project. The team is currently looking to solidify Octopus’s advertising capabilities with geofencing and sensors to confirm passenger ad impressions.
Octupus has now raised $20.7m in funding altogether, according to regulatory filings, including $13.5m obtained from undisclosed investors in September 2019.
Venture capital fund Jobi Capital led a $4.8m series A for Octupus – then still Spotluck – in mid-2017, closing the round together with contributions from New Dominion Angels and Rank Capital, after three rounds in 2016 which collectively raised $2.6m in equity and debt, according to regulatory filings.
David Smith, executive chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group, said: “What we see here is an untapped medium with a truly captive audience that is buckled in and looking to engage.
“We invested in Octopus because the team has successfully created an innovative and differentiated branding opportunity that we can help scale further.”