Thousands of social media conversations are exchanged every day. But what are people actually saying about a given subject, whether it be the World Cup or a high-grossing firm? Cambridge’s Luminoso can answer that question using its bilingual text big data analytics platform. And the company announced on Wednesday that it has raised $6.5 million in Series A funding led by New York venture firm Acadia Woods, with participation from Digital Garage.
The round takes Luminoso’s total financing to $8.5 million, and will be used to bring on key hires and boost the startup’s overall growth.
Luminoso sprung from the MIT Media Lab in 2010 as a way to help companies tap into and derive meaning from large amounts of unstructured text. The company’s technology delves beyond metaphor, slang and spam to help firms figure out just what their customers and potential customers are saying about their product or service.
Since its start, Luminoso has worked with numerous Fortune 1000 brands, including MARS, Intel, Scotts, REI and ConAgrea. Most recently, the Cambridge company partnered with Sony to power its ONE STADIUM LIVE, a social network dedicated solely to the 2014 World Cup, to “surface, analyze and organize” conversations around the tournament.
“We’re honored and thrilled to welcome Acadia Woods and Digital Garage to our team,” said Catherine Havasi, CEO and co-founder of Luminoso, in a statement. “We’re taking on this capital to bring on key hires in order to meet customer demands and accelerate our company growth. We’re encouraged by our investors’ support and are dedicated to helping our customers continue to gain insights from their data, so that they can grow and improve their businesses.”
Luminoso’s team is currently around 18, and works out of Two Cambridge Place in Kendall Square.
Image via Luminoso
