Montreal AI start-up Hippoc receives $3M in funding
by CM staff
Funds to be used for platform development and global expansion of breakthrough artificial intelligence tool for advertising execs.
Hippoc’s Cofounders Kévin Combe and Jean-Maxime Larouche (CNW Group/Hippoc)
MONTREAL — Montreal-based Hippoc, a digital marketing start-up, received CAD$3 million in financing from Colvest Holdings Inc. and Distinction Capital (the private investment fund of CGI founder Serge Godin).
Funds will be used to expand the business to a wider client base in North America as well as in Europe, and help the company support its vision to further develop its intuitive artificial intelligence (AI) platform designed for marketing specialists.
Hippoc, founded in 2019 by Jean-Maxime Larouche and Kévin Combe, launched its technology to resolve issues faced by marketers related to long delays and elevated costs associated with traditional advertising testing, such as focus groups and panels carried out with real consumers.
The company’s web-based app, described as the ultimate advertising testing and optimization tool fueled by neuroscience and AI, predicts the cognitive impact of an ad before it appears online. Results are obtained through tests carried out on a replicated average human brain and are delivered instantly to marketing specialists – from start-ups and SMEs, large corporations and marketing/communications agencies, to junior and senior advertising designers, and freelancers – who can then validate the effectiveness of their ads.
According to a study conducted by Hippoc, 20 per cent of advertising budgets for campaign launches is invested in ads that deliver significantly below average performance. A predictive test conducted by Hippoc can cut these budget losses in half, by identifying these ads before launch, said Larouche.
“Hippoc offers a powerful, intuitive tool that helps advertisers increase the impact and ad recall of the visuals they put forth on behalf of brands, for consumers,” said Charles Beaulieu, partner at Montreal and Toronto-based Glassroom agency. “In just a few seconds, this solution allows us to increase brand attribution and maximize the performance of visual content, contributing to better creative ROI.”
The $3 million funding will support the current Hippoc platform as well as develop integrations with advertising platforms like Google and Facebook (Meta) and new applications, including software to dynamically analyze different types of content, such as interfaces, emails, blogs, animated content, videos and GIFs.
