July 20, 2010 09:00 ET

Compass Labs Secures $5 Million in Venture Funding to Continue Growth

SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwire - July 20, 2010) -  Compass Labs, a real-time social precision targeting company, today announced that the company has secured $5 million in their recent round of fundraising from firms NEA and Triple Point Capital as well as individual investors, such as Jim Clark, among others. The funds will be dedicated to continued product and sales infrastructure development in the rapidly developing social e-commerce and advertising space.

As the usage of social networks like Facebook and Twitter continues to explode, consumers are increasingly turning to social networks for information about products and services. In fact, a majority of consumers consult social media sites before making a purchase. However, Tweets, status updates, posts and other forms of social messages are so brief that traditional keyword detection technologies are not effective, making it difficult for the consumer and for the advertiser.

Compass Labs enables consumers to obtain highly relevant and timely information about products and services that they are interested in. By interpreting natural language and extracting meaning from public social content, Compass Labs is able to accurately identify which user is interested in purchasing a specific product or service. Compass Labs provides merchants and brands with the ability to connect with and deliver highly relevant information to consumers while they are actively engaged in conversations about the products. This benefits consumers who obtain highly relevant product information in a timely manner, merchants who can now attract large numbers of new and highly qualified customers, and advertisers who realize high conversion rates.

According to NEA's general partner Kittu Kolluri, "Compass Labs' technology will redefine online advertising by handing advertisers the key for engaging a currently unreachable audience. As social networks become a forum for people looking to make purchase decisions, Compass Labs will be instrumental in defining the real-time social precision targeting space. The other investors and I are excited by these opportunities and look forward to watching the company continue to grow."

"Compass Labs develops new ways to deliver relevant material to customers. I like this type of investment because it not only addresses the interests of advertisers, but also those of consumers, as the information they receive online is better tailored to their wants and needs," said Jim Clark, industry pioneer and founder of such category defining companies as Silicon Graphics, Netscape and Healtheon/WebMD. "Compass Labs enables advertisers to target customers at the exact moment they are contemplating a purchase decision by interpreting the natural meaning of conversations taking place on social sites, which should be invaluable."

"The support and commitment from our investors speaks to their confidence in our technology and how it will continue to define the emerging real-time social precision targeting space," said Dilip Venkatachari, CEO of Compass Labs. "We are excited that Compass Labs has earned the support and recognition of the VC community and will continue to deliver brands and marketers with meaningful ways to connect with and engage their consumers across social networks." 

About Compass Labs:
The next evolution in knowledge-based marketing and advertising, Compass Labs' real-time precision targeting solution enables brands and marketers to move beyond broad targeting capabilities, effectively harnessing the power of social media content to precisely target potential buyers at the exact moment they are contemplating a purchase. The first social precision marketing technology of its kind, Compass Labs officially launched at the inaugural TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Battlefield on May 25, 2010 and is funded by NEA, Triple Point Capital as well as individual investors, such as Jim Clark. Compass Labs was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in San Jose, CA. For more information, please visit www.compasslabs.com.