Umbel raises $3.7 Million, led by Austin Ventures

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Austin-based Umbel is a digital audience measurement company that cross-correlates “big data” from social and other sources to empower publishers, agencies and advertisers with revenue-­generating insights. Umbel leverages social data at great scale to deliver unique insights about the people who engage with a site, service or brand.


The company has closed a $3.7 Million Series A round of venture funding led by Austin Ventures. As part of the announcement, Paul Krasinski, the former SVP of Digital Media and Analytics at Arbitron, joins Umbel as CEO. Seth Goldstein, the former co-chair, IAB Social Media Committee and Turntable.fm co-founder, joins Umbel’s Board alongside Thomas Ball, a Partner at Austin Ventures.

Umbel was founded in 2010 by Meredith Maycotte, Higinio Maycotte, Travis Turner and Nick Goggans. A collaboration with Arbitron, Krasinski’s former employer, was forged 8/11 to leverage Umbel’s team and capabilities to evaluate and research the power of using social media as a measurement proxy.

The company is currently in private beta and will be using the recently raised funds to aggressively execute on its product roadmap and further business development goals. Its products and services have broad market and industry applications including sports, news, politics, and entertainment. The startup is already working with a brands including the Boston Bruins, Streetwise Media, and Austin City Limits, building leverage with real insights and realizing additional revenue in the process.

Umbel is expected to bring its first product to market in Q3.

“We’re confident our company will fill the measurement market and service gaps, and provide brands, agencies and publishers with a much deeper understanding of their audience to support well-informed, effective media planning and buying decisions,” said Krasinski. “We’re on the precipice of a new era in audience measurement where brands will demand granular data and the technology is available to deliver upon the market needs. It is exciting. I’m proud to join Umbel’s ambitious and talented team and extend the traditional media research principles using social and big data. Umbel has an incredible opportunity to make a large impact on the future of audience measurement.”

In addition to Austin Ventures, several notable angels contributed to Umbel’s Series A funding–Herbert Simon, Chairman and Director of the Simon Property group, the largest publicly traded real estate investment trust in the US and owner of the Indiana Pacers, and Gordon Paddison, CEO Stradella Road, and former EVP New Media Marketing at Newline Cinema.