Umbel, the standard for digital audience measurement, today announced that the company has closed a $3.7 Million Series A round of venture funding led by Austin Ventures. As part of the announcement, Paul Krasinski, the former senior vice president (SVP) of Digital Media and Analytics at Arbitron, joins Umbel as chief executive officer (CEO). Seth Goldstein, the former co-chair, IAB Social Media Committee and Turntable.fm co-founder, joins Umbel's Board of Directors alongside Thomas Ball, a Partner at Austin Ventures.

Umbel was founded in 2010 by Meredith Maycotte, Higinio (H.O.) Maycotte, Travis Turner and Nick Goggans. A collaboration with Arbitron, Krasinski's former employer, was forged in August 2011 to leverage Umbel's team and capabilities to evaluate and research the power of using social media as a measurement proxy.

Umbel leverages social data at great scale to deliver unique insights about the people who engage with any site, service or brand. The company is currently in private beta and will be using the recently raised funds to aggressively execute on its product roadmap and further business development goals. Umbel is expected to bring its first product to market in Q3 of 2012.

"Austin Ventures is an ideal funding partner for Umbel due to their expertise in new media technologies and big data. They're committed to our vision and have an outstanding network of resources that will provide a tailwind for Umbel. We're confident our company will fill the measurement market and service gaps, and provide brands, agencies and publishers with a much deeper understanding of their audience to support well-informed, effective media planning and buying decisions," said Paul Krasinski, CEO of Umbel. "We're on the precipice of a new era in audience measurement where brands will demand granular data and the technology is available to deliver upon the market needs. It is exciting. I'm proud to join Umbel's ambitious and talented team and extend the traditional media research principles using social and big data. Umbel has an incredible opportunity to make a large impact on the future of audience measurement."

Umbel's products and services have broad market and industry applications including: sports, news, politics, and entertainment. The Austin-based startup is already working with a number of major brands such as the Boston Bruins, Streetwise Media, and Austin City Limits, building leverage with real insights and realizing additional revenue in the process.

"H.O. and the Umbel team have built an unbelievable technology, and it's a serious coup to announce Paul's joining today. This is the right team and opportunity. Together, they are bringing much-needed innovation to an industry subsisting on old, outdated measurement technologies," said Thomas Ball, Partner, Austin Ventures. "Umbel is empowering publishers of all kinds to qualify and report on their audience's true value. Umbel is the future of audience measurement. The ad networks shouldn't have all the fun. This is about knowing your audience better than they know themselves."

In addition to Austin Ventures, several notable angels contributed to Umbel's Series A funding round. These investors include Herbert Simon, Chairman and Director of the Simon Property group, the largest publicly traded real estate investment trust in the United States and owner of the Indiana Pacers, and Gordon Paddison, CEO Stradella Road, and former EVP New Media Marketing at Newline Cinema. Umbel's investors bring valuable connections and experience that will benefit the company.

For more info about Umbel, visit: http://www.umbel.com/

Full press materials, including detailed company information, product screenshots and company logos can be found here: http://www.umbel.com/about/press/

About Umbel
Umbel is the standard for digital audience measurement.

Umbel is an audience measurement company that cross-Â-correlates big data from social and other sources to empower publishers, agencies and advertisers with revenue-Â-generating insights. Umbel leverages social data at great scale to deliver unique insights about the people who engage with a site, service or brand.

Umbel was founded in 2010 by Meredith Maycotte, Higinio (H.O.) Maycotte, Travis Turner and Nick Goggans. Based in Austin, TX, Umbel is currently in private beta.

To learn more about Umbel, visit: http://www.umbel.com/

About Austin Ventures
Austin Ventures ("AV") has worked with talented entrepreneurs to build valuable companies for over 25 years. With $3.9 billion under management, AV is the most active venture capital and growth equity firm in Texas and one of the most established in the nation.

With an investment focus on business services and supply chain, financial services, new media, Internet, and information services, AV invests at all stages of company development, from $100,000 in "planned experiments" in early-stage ideas to $100+ million investments in expansion rounds and recapitalizations. AV's strategy is to partner with talented executives and entrepreneurs through its CEO-in-Residence and Entrepreneur-in-Residence programs.