PlaceIQ, the company building more accurate audiences with location, time and real-world behavior, today announced that it has raised $15 million in a Series C financing round led by new investor Harmony Partners. Additional new investor Iris Capital and existing investors from the company's Series B also participated in this round. With this investment, PlaceIQ is also expanding its relationship with Publicis Groupe through a strategic partnership with VivaKi, which will bring PlaceIQ's technology to Publicis Groupe's agencies.

The investment from Harmony Partners and Iris Capital will support the ongoing development of PlaceIQ's patented platform and solutions that deliver high-fidelity mobile audiences to advertisers. Additionally, PlaceIQ will be focusing on the development of a consumer insights product suite and approach to enterprise business intelligence this year. The offering will be tailored for organizations seeking to understand human behavior, as PlaceIQ derives intelligence from activities across time, space and devices to uncover opportunities to learn about and connect with consumers with unrivaled clarity, quality and relevance.

'Having expanded our business significantly over the past year by delivering on the promise of location intelligence for agencies and brands, this new investment is a vote of confidence in our vision,' said Duncan McCall, CEO of PlaceIQ. 'We plan to build upon this foundation and truly demonstrate that mobile is a key to understanding consumer behavior, and our new partnership with VivaKi is a testament to this approach.'

In the past quarter, PlaceIQ has made a series of appointments to its leadership team and announced a new set of products and analytics capabilities through its patented technology platform. The company's headcount has grown by 543% since the beginning of 2013, with the addition of more than 70 employees and an expanding sales force in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Detroit. PlaceIQ will leverage the latest round of funding to expand the business and pursue additional growth opportunities.

McCall continued, 'On top of a stellar year, we also achieved profitability in 2013 with revenue growth of 8x. It's a huge accomplishment, and I'm excited to show how this new investment will allow us to deliver our 2014 roadmap and build on our track record in innovation.'

'We are attracted to the PlaceIQ's explosive growth, strong team of hardcore data scientists and differentiated solution,' said Mark Lotke, Managing Partner of Harmony Partners. 'The product feedback we heard from the company's customers and partners explains loud and clear why PlaceIQ's revenue was incredibly strong in 2013, and we're thrilled to support their continued growth.'

'Given their work to date, we believe that PlaceIQ is a proven leader that is defining a new space, and we reached out to them to express our interest in supporting the company's efforts financially,' said Denis Barrier, Partner of Iris Capital. 'Based on our conversations with them, it's clear that their track record for delivering results is resonating with the industry and PlaceIQ's growth will accelerate in 2014.'

In partnering with VivaKi and its Ventures practice -- which includes more than a dozen of the industry's most forward-thinking companies -- all Publicis Groupe agencies will have access to PlaceIQ's product suite and a host of benefits. The partnership will ultimately give agencies the ability to generate even more targeted audiences with PlaceIQ's product offerings and data.

'As mobile devices continue to ascend the marketing hierarchy, we have placed an emphasis on building a portfolio of partners that will give our agencies the absolute best mobile data, targeting and segmentation capabilities,' said VivaKi Ventures Managing Director and VivaKi Chief Social Media Officer, Michael Wiley. 'We have partnered with PlaceIQ because they have a demonstrated track record with Starcom MediaVest Group, they have tremendous leadership, and they have a collaborative spirit that will allow us to co-create groundbreaking products to meet the needs of our clients.'

To learn more about PlaceIQ, visit www.placeiq.com.

About Harmony Partners
Harmony Partners is a highly differentiated venture capital firm purpose-built to better serve today's capital efficient companies. With offices in Silicon Valley and New York City, Harmony fills a gap in the market for expansion stage capital. Through its flexible investment amounts, streamlined business processes, and accommodating approach, Harmony enables entrepreneurs to own more of their companies, focus on the core business, and enhance exit flexibility. Since 1993, the founding partners have invested in over 60 technology-driven companies, including Aveksa, ComScore, Coremetrics, E*Trade, Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Natera, Predictive Systems, Priceline.com, Peribit Network, Scopus Technology, SS&C, Swype, Synapse, and Xactly. For more information on Harmony Partners, visit www.harmonyvp.com.

About Iris Capital
Iris Capital is a pan-European venture capital fund manager specializing in digital economy. Since its inception in 1986, the Iris Capital team has invested more than EUR 1 billion in more than 230 companies. Iris Capital targets opportunities in service or technology companies, seeking growth capital in order to realize their strategy. It provides active support to its portfolio companies on the basis of its strong sector specialization and experience, and has offices in Paris, Düsseldorf, San Francisco, Montreal, Riyadh, Dubai, Beijing and Tokyo. In 2012 Iris Capital has entered into a strategic partnership with Orange and Publicis to manage their joint venture capital initiative. www.iriscapital.com

About VivaKi
Part of Publicis Groupe (Euronext Paris Exchange: FR0000130577; CAC 40 index), the world's third largest communications group, VivaKi was established in 2008 to propel the digital transformation and expertise of the Groupe and its agencies. Today we are the global leader in digital advertising solutions, working with the world's leading organizations to help them navigate the evolving and chaotic media landscape. Across the globe, VivaKi employs more than 400 engineers, technology experts, product designers, analysts and digital marketing professionals. Visit us online at www.vivaki.com or follow us on Twitter: @VivaKi.

About PlaceIQ
Leading CPG, retail, automotive, entertainment, consumer electronics and other national brands and their agencies rely on PlaceIQ's patented technology and suite of consumer discovery, engagement and activation solutions to engage with the right consumers and lead them to desired brand actions and destinations at unbeatable scale. PlaceIQ's Place Visit Rate (PVR™) is already the standard for measuring real-world, in-store ROI, quantifying the value and effectiveness of advertising, targeting and messaging. The company is headquartered in New York City and has offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago and Boulder, Colorado.