MUMBAI: Lamplight Analytics, a Hong Kong based social media analytics startup, has completed a seed funding round of $1.49 million, led by venture capital fund Vectr Ventures.
The investment is currently one of Hong Kong’s largest seed investment rounds ever. Other participants in the investment round included local and international firms, friends and family. The company plans to use the capital to accelerate its growth in Asia while further developing its proprietary technology.
Vectr Ventures’ Alan Chan says, “We invested in Lamplight because of their incredibly diverse and dynamic team. Their combined skills are perfect for tapping into this rapidly evolving, exponentially growing, demand driven market.”
Lamplight Analytics was founded by Sam Olsen (CEO), Fergus Clarke (COO) and Nathan Pacey (CTO) in 2014, after their experience in Asia revealed a lack of specialised tools designed to navigate Asia’s social media landscape. They created the Lamplight tool to address the complexities of social media analysis in Asia, stemming from language, culture, variety in social platforms, and geography, among other factors.
In less than a year, Lamplight Analytics has grown to over 15 staff at its Kennedy Town office and is currently working with numerous multinational and regional clients, including Live Nation, the world’s largest live music company.
Olsen said, “Lamplight helps our clients listen with a local ear, which provides enormous commercial advantage. Our tool allows you to understand what your customers and markets are really saying, helping you identify growth opportunities, set effective campaign goals, manage your online reputation, the applications are endless.”
Clarke added, “Bringing realtime insight to businesses on their target markets is incredibly useful in a region as diverse as ours. The investment ensures Hong Kong will be at the forefront of advances in this technology.”
Social analytics tools like Lamplight are using latest technologies to uncover value from the continuous conversation found on social media. Millions of social sources and data can now be aggregated and transformed to provide important brand and market insights such as brand sentiment, demographics, top influencers and other actionable insights, allowing brands to make quick and informed decisions, factors crucial in today’s fast paced business environment.
Major investments by both investors and brands into the social analytics are transforming the once niche industry. A study by global market research and consultancy Marketsandmarkets shows the social marketing analytics sector is projected to be worth at least $2.75 billion by 2019, growing at 35 per cent a year, with Asia second only to North America in terms of market size.
