The wave of investments in “realtime” is continuing with today’s announcement from Cognitive Match that it has raised Series A investment from Dawn Capital. Terms were undisclosed but it’s understood the figure was in the £1m+ ballpark, in tranches. The UK company applies artificial intelligence, learning mathematics, psychology and semantic technologies to match content to individuals in, you guessed it, realtime. This content can be product, offers, editorial or advertising of course, making it a very interesting prospect for an outfit like Twitter.
The company will use the investment to accelerate development and build clients for the product. Chad Raube, Investment Partner at Dawn Capital, will join Cognitive Match’s Board of Directors.
Founder CEO Alex Kelleher previously co-founded leading analytics and data mining company Touch Clarity (which sold in 2007 to Omniture), and prior to that was Founder CEO of London-based web agency Vivid Edge (sold in 2000 to Framfab). He thinks that “with the ever increasing volume of data generated by the activity of individuals online, there is an incredible opportunity to make the internet more relevant and more responsive.”
Esther Dyson, an advisor to the company, says “Cognitive Match automates what a person could do with unlimited time and attention, and allows best possible use of scarce online real estate”.
Haakon Overli, Managing Partner of Dawn Capital told me Cognitive Match uses similar mathematics to Wonga (which Dawn also invested in last year alongside Balderton et al in early May). The technology will enable website owners to to make a something he calls a “3.0 statement” such as: “We believe this is what you are looking for” – as opposed to the more 2.0 statement “People who bought this also bought that” which is somewhat passe these days.
Of course Cognitive is not the only player in this field right now. Silicon Valley Angel Ron Conway and New York-based VC Fred Wilson are both heavy proponents and investors in realtime startups, so expect many more such deals.