Israeli startup Klear, formerly known as Twtrland, has raised $1.5 million in new funding from Altair and TMT Investments, two international venture funds with Russian backers.
The company defines its product as “a social intelligence platform that helps you do smarter marketing.” It has rebranded to Klear, since the platform now looks at data from Facebook and Instagram in addition to Twitter, and plans to integrate other social networks, including Pinterest, Google Plus, and LinkedIn, TechCrunch notes.
In an exchange with TechCrunch, founder and chief operating officer Guy Avigdor said the startup plans to target two groups of potential users: companies that already use competing tools but want less complicated analytics, as well as small- to medium-sized businesses that have not signed up for any analytic platforms yet but want to increase their social media presence or run more effective campaigns.
“Most of the tools on the market today are either extremely complex or very expensive,” Avigdor said. “What we offer is a simple yet smart solution that opens up a market that was otherwise not available.”
Klear claims a database of 200 million social media profiles divided into 60,000 categories, notes TechCrunch. Users can quickly find the most relevant accounts using Klear’s search engine — for example, people who are interested in fashion who live in New York City, or people based in Hong Kong who run influential Twitter accounts about technology.
This round of financing brings Klear’s total raised so far to $2 million, following an earlier seed round in December last year. The startup will use its new capital for sales and marketing, concentrating mainly on growth in the United States and United Kingdom.
Founded by the executive management team previously behind RBC, a major Russian financial information holding, and traded on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, TMT Investments has raised $30million since its inception in 2010. Having invested in more than 35 Internet-based companies worldwide, the fund stands as one of the most active Russian-backed funds operating internationally.
Lauched by Russian serial startup investor Igor Ryabenkiy, Altair Capital invests in early stage tech companies, primarily in the areas of Internet and mobile essentially in Russia, Israel and the USA.
Israel is a popular destination among Russian investors who seek international opportunities. Among the Russia-connected players having invested in this country are Flint Capital, Maxfield Capital, Mail.ru Group, Titanium Investments, Yandex, in addition to Russian billionaires Roman Abramovich and Vyacheslav Mirilashvili with his fund Vaizra.
