TVision Insights, a Boston startup that came out of MIT and measures "eyes-on-screen" for television advertising and programming, is in the process of closing its Series A, to the tune of $7.8 million.
The startup, a 2015 MassChallenge winner, disclosed on Monday it has raised $6.3 million of the equity offering so far, according to a Form D filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Aside from two of the startup's three founders — CEO Yan Liu and CRO Dan Schiffman — the only other person listed on the filing is Bob Mason, managing director of Boston venture capital firm Project 11.
Project 11 helped lead the startup's $2.5 million seed round in December. Before raising its seed round, TVision had raised $400,000 from friends, family and angels in 2014. Other investors from past rounds include Rough Draft Ventures, Sigma Prime Ventures and Accomplice's BOSS Syndicate.
As BostInno reported last fall, TVision has developed a Nielsen-like system that uses machine vision to track what's on the television screen, who's in the room, whether they're paying attention and how they react to certain programming. On its website, the startup says it can use this data to analyze an advertisement's performance second-by-second; help companies optimize their media planning based on demographic, time of day and channel; and help networks gain a better understanding of who their audience is.
For instance, TVision insights was able to measure how much attention people were paying to Super Bowl 50 before and after Beyoncé's performance and which commercials evoked the most smiles.
Schiffman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
