Spark and Accel invest $3.5m in Qriously

Ellie Pullen
31 May 2013

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Spark Capital has led a $3.5m series-A funding round for London-based Qriously, alongside existing investor Accel Partners.

The fresh funding will allow the company to expand further into the US and UK markets, as well as continue the rollout of its new product, an opinion-targeting mobile advertising platform named asQvertising.

Spark is a Boston-based venture capital firm that invests in technology companies. According to its website, it considers deals with companies seeking anywhere from $250,000 in seed funding to $25m in growth capital. Previous investments include a $14m investment in GetYourGuide with Highland Capital and a $750,000 capital injection into Zilico.

Accel also invests in technology companies. Its focus is infrastructure, cloud-based services and mobile technology. Recent transactions include a $30.6m round for Hailo as part of a consortium of investors and a $40m series-C round for HouseTrip.com.

Previous funding
Accel first backed Qriously in March 2011 with a $1.6m funding round alongside Amalfi Capital, according to unquote" data.

In 2008, the company received $400,000 in seed funding from Hong Kong-based Pacific Tiger Group.

Company
Qriously was founded off the back of the management team's earlier concept, Urbian, which was unsuccessful. In 2010, the founding team began working on Qriously, which is now headquartered in London, with an office in New York and additional employees based in Vienna and Atlanta.

The company's product, asQvertising, is a platform that offers a "self-select" mobile advertising network using questions served to smartphone users. In the space normally occupied by an advertisement, a question regarding a user's interests or hobbies is displayed. The answer selected by the consumer determines the advert that will then be shown.

Qriously also offers statistical analysis of the results of asQvertising to advertisers.

People
Qriously was co-founded by Gerald Müller, Abraham Müller and Christopher Kahler, the latter of whom is also the company's CEO. Santo Politi is a co-founder and general partner at Spark.