Boise firm that hopes to harness social media ‘chatter’ on stocks gets early investment

A Boise-based company that hopes to help market traders figure out what social media is saying about stocks and crypto investments — landed an early funding round.

While still a Boise State University student, Christian Pery partnered with Loughborough University student Bars Juhasz to found the company in 2021. Now, Meridian’s Capital Eleven is leading the seed funding round for the company, along with Boise-based Trolley House Ventures.

Neither the funding amount nor the valuation were disclosed.

Social media sentiment around stocks has seen increased prominence in recent years. AMC Entertainment and GameStop say meteoric rises last year as so-called “meme stocks,” fueled by discussion and trading activity from individual investors. Forums like the Wall Street Bets board on Reddit as well as Twitter communities have been key factors in moving stocks. ChatterQuant thinks it can help find signal in the noise.

“Total retail traders rose from 59 million people in 2019 to 95 million in 2021 and they are now
responsible for roughly $30 billion dollars of daily trading volume,” Perry said. “This circle of retail traders sharing their trades on social media and reading about others is clearly moving markets on a daily basis, making access to real-time social sentiment tracking critical to both institutional and retail traders.”

ChatterQuant uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to watch and understand what social media is saying about a stock. It currently looks at Reddit and Twitter, but hopes to expand to YouTube and TikTok.

“The increased numbers and power of retail investors along with the increased market
influence of platforms like Reddit and Twitter make tracking social sentiment a critical data
feed for both institutional and retail investors,” Capital Eleven Managing Partner Travis Hawkes said. “ChatterQuant’s ability to provide real-time data by monitoring millions of posts with machine learning and natural language AI is a true game changer for traders and investors.”

The stages of startup funding

Tech and other business startups that look to raise capital often follow a number of funding rounds.  Sometimes, the process starts with “pre-seed funding,” which is enough money to get the business going. Seed funding is the first formal round and starts to formalize the business.

Some businesses never progress past seed funding.

Next, follows Series A, Series B and Series C.  A-round funding usually starts once a business has a bit of a track record and provides money to grow the business and develop out products or concepts. B-rounds help businesses start to grow to maturity, past that initial startup phase. Series C funding usually goes into businesses that are already a success, and helps the business grow and scale-up.