Geofeedia, a Chicago-based startup behind a popular social media intelligence platform, is looking to beef up its Indianapolis presence this year.
Fresh off a $3 million funding round announced Thursday, the four-year-old company said it plans to hire 50 employees between its Chicago and Indianapolis offices. The majority will work in Indianapolis, founder and CEO Phil Harris said.
“We’re seeing a very strong applicant pool emerge in Indianapolis,” Harris said.
Twenty of Geofeedia's roughly three-dozen employees already operate out of the company’s local office at 55 Monument Circle, which the company opened in December with two employees. At the time, ExactTarget alumni Wes Antrobus and R.J. Talyor were tapped to lead sales and product development, respectively.
Geofeedia’s analytics platform is used by the likes of CNN, the Mall of America, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and others to monitor social media activity in specific locations.
After spending its first few years building the product, it bolstered its sales team in 2014, resulting in a year in which year-over-year sales grew 857 percent, to more than $3 million. The growth rate “surpassed our expectations,” Harris said.
The growth also pleased investors, Harris said, so much so that they initiated the new $3 million capital injection after pumping $3.5 million in the company last fall. Chicago-based Hyde Park Venture Partners was involved in both rounds.
The company declined to disclose its latest valuation, which grew with the recent equity round. Geofeedia has raised $6.8 million to date.
The company has about 10,000 clients and plans quadruple that count by 2016.
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