UpShow entertains $14m series A

US-based in-venue customer engagement platform UpShow has closed a $14m series A round with a $4.8m extension led by 4490 Ventures, a venture firm aligned to University of Wisconsin-Madison, Crunchbase News reported yesterday.
Signature Venture Banking Group, the VC arm of commercial banking firm Signature Bank, also participated in the series A round together with Jump Capital and TDF Ventures. The last two had co-led the initial $6m tranche in March 2019.
4490 Ventures is backed by Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (Warf), the commercialisation arm of  University of Wisconsin-Madison. Warf first contributed to 4490 Ventures in 2013.
UpShow supplies a technology to convert existing TV displays in venues such as retail and hospitality outlets into billboards for displaying adverts, media content and signposting.
Visitors can also download a smartphone app to receive loyalty discounts and perks, although UpShow claims to divert less of the user’s attention to their phone than competing products from major tech firms that have their own digital advertising motives.
The series A money will be spent on product development as UpShow looks to court large venue chains to add to its installed base of 25,000 displays in 10,000 locations, according to chief executive Adam Hirsen.
UpShow also plans to drill down on recruitment, seeking to bring its headcount from 43 to 70 by the end of 2021.
Dan Malven, managing director of 4490 Ventures, said: “UpShow solves a problem that has been causing CEOs and chief experience officer’s anxiety at the largest brick-and-mortar brands in the world for over a decade. It is an enormous unmet need.”
Hirsen said UpShow had previously raised a total of $3m in angel funding without providing full details.  The company closed an angel round for half of that amount in 2017 with commitments from Gian Fulgoni, Jai Shekhawat,  Dave Tolmie, Scott Flanders and Howard Tullman.