StoryStream, the content acceleration experts, has raised GBP1.2 million in additional funding, led by MMC Ventures, to advance its offering with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
With this latest investment, StoryStream will use AI to accelerate the efficiency of finding, managing and deploying content to power engaging content experiences for brands, whilst unlocking valuable insights for marketers.
To lead the AI philosophy at StoryStream the company also hired Dr Janet Bastiman as its Chief Science Officer to head a new team based in its London office, which opened earlier this year. Dr Bastiman is a veteran C-level executive with a PhD in computational neuroscience and 10 years’ experience in leading technical departments and shaping future technical strategy.
She has held several CIO and CTO positions at SmartFocus, SnapRapid and Salon Software Solutions and brings a wealth of knowledge and insight to achieve excellent results in various sectors of the IT industry.
“Marketers are increasingly thinking about how AI can be leveraged to improve operations and boost revenue,” says Alex Vaidya, CEO & Co-Founder, StoryStream. “We wanted to make that an accessible reality for marketers. It was important for us to have talent in-house in order to design unique, specialist technology that can keep up with the demands of our clients. Original AI technology will become a game changer for the business.”
“It’s an exciting time to be working in the AI industry,” says Dr. Bastiman. “StoryStream is heading down a very interesting path in terms of its product offerings, and I’m excited to help forge transformative technology that will shape the future of marketing.”
With this latest fundraise StoryStream has secured a total of £3million today with MMC Ventures. It closed its Series A funding round at £1.8m in April 2016.
Jon Coker, Co-Managing Partner at MMC Ventures, says “Marketers are dealing with ever increasing amounts of content related to their brand and there are few enterprise tools that have the ability to manage brand and customer content at scale, in real-time, across multiple channels. We believe this problem is well suited to AI and StoryStream’s offering and we are excited to be backing StoryStream’s continued commitment to it.”
