WeArisma raises £2.5 million to help brands understand value of earned influence

WeArisma is announcing that it has raised £2.5 million to establish its brand discoverability and earned influence analytical tool. In the new age of search on social media, it is more vital than ever for brands, retailers and the media to understand the true impact of the earned media channel. The raise was led by exclusive investment syndicate, Adjuvo, following previous investment from Morgan Stanley.

For many years, Google has been the de facto primary search engine. However, a significant shift is underway with billions of people globally now regularly discovering brands through earned influential sources on social media, including influencers, celebrities and the press. This shift has created a strong need for brands to evaluate how effectively they are being talked about and recommended by influential sources. While it is easy for brands to see how well they rank on Google, many brands are in the dark about how they rank across these earned influential sources and what their impact on holistic brand strategies and commercial success is – the Earned Brand Influence Value (EBIV).

Jenny Tsai, CEO & Founder at WeArisma, commented: “There are 4.5 billion social media users across the world and most of these people are making purchasing decisions based on third-party content they are viewing. In fact, studies have shown that around 40% of young people now prefer using TikTok and Instagram for search over Google. And yet, most companies still don’t understand how their brand and products are performing on these third-party feeds. 

“The explosion of influencer marketing we’ve seen since the start of the pandemic means that it’s now at a level of maturity where organisations need a better way of identifying what’s worked well, what’s not, and the overall ROI. WeArisma aggregates billions of different feeds to help brands understand how they rank amongst their target audience across all social channels and, importantly, how easily their audience will find content that drives real brand affinity and health.”

Drawing on over six years of historical data across 15,000 brands and in more than 70 countries, WeArisma supports leading brands in sectors such as fashion, luxury, beauty, travel and FMCG to effectively evaluate where to invest their time and money when it comes to influencer/celebrity/talent-led activations. Clients include some of the world’s most valuable luxury brands and retailers, and Fortune 500 companies; these include Hermès, Unilever, Coty, New Look and Ann Summers. 

The investment will enable WeArisma to introduce new features into its platform. This includes boosting its coverage of the leading social channels in APAC and globally – so brands can unlock new revenue opportunities in markets that see consumer purchasing decisions heavily driven by influential sources. WeArisma will also scale its team to help brands to better use the platform to understand the impact of influential sources on holistic brand strategies and, ultimately, close the industry measurement gap of third-party content.

Jenny Tsai adds: “The consumer as a curator is here to stay in this increasingly fragmented purchasing journey and the role played by earned media is ill-understood. We are delighted to take on the critical question of understanding, quantifying and thus predicting the relationship between earned media, commercial impact and market share in the near-term and brand value in the long-term.”

The funding follows investment from Morgan Stanley in 2022 to help the company accelerate growth as part of the company’s inaugural cohort of the EMEA Multicultural Innovation Lab. To date WeArisma has received a total of £3.5 million in investment. 

Mark Foster-Brown, Co-Founder and CEO of Adjuvo, said: “Assessing the value and effectiveness of influencer marketing is critical for retailers and brands. Adjuvo members are delighted to support Jenny and the team at WeArisma in this fast growing and innovative sector.”

Sanghamitra Karra, Managing Director and EMEA Head of the Multicultural Client Strategy Group at Morgan Stanley, said: “We have been impressed by WeArisma’s high-quality data platform and insights. WeArisma has a data-driven approach that has helped clients to optimise marketing spend and achieve their communication objectives. Jenny and the team bring a wealth of experience serving some of the largest brands across the globe.”