BGF leads $17m investment into LoopMe

LoopMe founders Marco Van De Bergh and Stephen Upstone

LoopMe has announced a further $17 million investment led by BGF, a $3.3 billion UK growth investor and including existing VC investors. The funding enables global expansion of LoopMe’s AI optimization, attribution and analytics software, with focus on the US market.

The company has received a total of $32m funding from global investors based in US, UK, Russia, China and Finland. Existing venture investors HV Holtzbrinck Ventures, Open Ocean and Impulse VC all participated in the round.

LoopMe specializes in AI-driven brand advertising solutions using mobile data to optimize campaigns to real-world outcomes, such as purchase intent, store visits or sales. The technology allows marketers to prove attribution from advertising, reduce costs and increase efficiencies, while improving the customer experience. LoopMe’s analytics suite provides brands with comprehensive insights into customer audiences and is used to inform planning across the marketing mix.

The funding will be used to continue the platform’s growth in the US, where it will be expanding its footprint in New York, San Francisco, LA, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston and Detroit, as well as increasing its existing presence in APAC.

Research into LoopMe’s technology shows an average 366% increase in brand outcomes when its flagship product PurchaseLoop^TM is applied.

LoopMe CEO Stephen Upstone said: “Brands need marketing solutions which deliver a business impact – sales, customers in stores and strong brand sentiment. This additional funding will allow us to bring our award-winning technology, which is proven to move the needle on these KPIs, to brands and agencies worldwide”.

MMA CEO Greg Stuart commented: “Much of marketing measurement is completely out of touch with business growth. While CTR is the most used KPI for brands our studies show that in many cases it has ZERO correlation to sales. The market must innovate in measurement if advertisers are going to get the most out of their investments in mobile advertising and other channels.’

The investment was led for BGF by Sarah Ledwidge, Tom McDonnell and Tim Rea.

Sarah Ledwidge, investor at BGF, said: “We were impressed with the results that LoopMe’s technology was able to deliver clients and the positive response to the platform in the marketplace. The use of artificial intelligence enables LoopMe to deliver measurable, incremental value, improving ROI and occupying a vital place in brands’ marketing strategy’.

Sarah joins LoopMe’s board as part of the funding round.

LoopMe’s technology has been activated for brands including Norwegian Air, Jockey, Ben & Jerry’s, Microsoft and Audi, who use the AI solution to run effective mobile advertising in the US, Europe and Asia.