Eye-tracking company Sticky is announcing that it has raised $5 million in Series A funding.
Previously known as EyeTrackShop, Sticky offers analytics tools that allow online advertisers and publishers to track where you’re looking. It spun out of Swedish company Tobii Technologies in 2009.
Advertisers, for example, can use the technology to test ads on different sites and networks to see which placements are actually valuable. Publishers, meanwhile, can see which elements of their sites are getting a reader’s attention, and then remove the elements that aren’t actually contributing.
“We want to be the human engagement tool of choice that brands and publishers use to optimize what’s actually seen,” said CEO Hans Lee in the funding release.
A Sticky spokesperson told me the company is now focused on providing its technology on a self-serve basis, rather than working as a market research firm. Customers include AOL (which owns TechCrunch), as well as ad startups TripleLift and Sublime Skinz.
TripleLift CEO Eric Berry told me:
Sticky is an innovative technology solution that allows the advertising industry to go beyond standard viewability (i.e. if the ad is rendered in the browser) – to whether the ad is actually seen. At TripleLift, we’ve seen that even if an ad is in view, the percent seen can vary drastically depending on the location and formatting of the ad itself. Our clients have found this data incredibly valuable to better understand and target their ads.
Sticky has now raised a total of $11 million. London-based Dawn Capital led the round, while past investors Northzone and Conor also participated.