Toronto-based Q4 Inc, which provides a communication and intelligence solutions platform for investment relations, announced $22 million in Series B financing.
This latest round of funding brings Q4’s total funding to date to $30 million. Last February, the company raised $5 million, and acquired Oxford Intelligence Partners later that year. At the time, the company said it was accelerating “its mission of becoming the world’s leading SaaS provider of capital markets intelligence and advanced communication solutions for public companies and institutional investors.”
The Series B round was led by OpenText Enterprise Apps Fund (OTEAF), Information Venture Partners, and HarbourVest Partners. Emerillon Capital and Kensington Capital Partners also participated in the round, along with Series A investors Plaza Ventures and Accomplice.
“We are excited to partner with Q4 at this critical inflection point in its growth,” said Raghu Bharat, investment manager at Emerillon Capital. “As demonstrated by their remarkable growth, this round of funding will help Q4 capitalize on global demand for their solutions, and accelerate the company’s pace of product innovation.”
The funding will go towards expanding the company’s engineering, sales, and marketing teams. In June, the company is unveiling a new Q4 desktop that it calls “the integrated market intelligence, investor CRM, website, and webcasting platform on the market.” Q4 plans to unveil this new product at the National Investor Relations Institute’s annual conference in San Diego.
“Over the last 10 years, the market has become more complex and opaque than ever before. Alternative trading systems, dark pools, and high frequency trading have created a challenging environment, making it almost impossible for corporates and investors to understand what is happening within the global financial markets,” said Darrell Heaps, CEO of Q4 Inc.
Q4’s customers include Michael Kors, McDonald’s, Nike, FedEx, Hilton Worldwide, Visa, and MasterCard. Its platform includes investor websites, earnings webcasting, market intelligence, and an investor CRM suite. Q4 is also looking at applying machine learning and natural language processing to provide real-time insights on institutional trading, market sentiment, volatility, and investor activism.
“Our products bring simplicity to this problem and help companies better understand the market, manage investor engagement and communicate with the street. We are at the early stages of our vision and look forward to using these funds to continue expanding our platform and analytics for corporate and institutional clients.” said Heaps.