Marketing startup Influential raises $12M from WME and others

Influential announced today that it has raised $12 million in Series B funding. The funding came from existing investors Capital Zed, ECA Ventures, Paradigm Talent Agency, ROAR and Tech Coast Angels, as well as from Hollywood agency WME . Just a couple weeks ago, Influential said it was working with (and had raised money from) WME. The agency is the first to try out a new Influential product called Talent Pro, which gives agents access to social data around a broader pool of talent. Influential founder and CEO Ryan Detert said the product will allow WME -- and, in the future, other agencies -- to sweeten endorsement and promotional deals with more data and to "take an A-list celebrity… and now surround that person with 10 lookalike influencers who are not celebrities themselves." One of Influential's big selling points is its use of artificial intelligence (it's a developer partner with IBM Watson) to help brands and marketers find influencers who would be a good fit for their campaigns.