AI startup SociaLeads raises $750,000 in seed round

SocialLeads, an artificial intelligence and machine learning technology startup, has closed a round of seed funding for $750,000 to expand Socialeads’ resourcing needs to launch initial pilots for Northwestern Mutual’s financial advisors. The funding was led by The Winnebago Seed Fund with additional investment coming from Northwestern Mutual’s Cream City Venture Capital and the BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation. The participation from Cream City Venture Capital expands its stake in Socialeads who won Northwestern Mutual’s Reverse Pitch last fall.

Founded in 2018 by Larry Hitchcock and Matthew Salzer, the Milwaukee-based SocialLeads’ unique AI and Machine Learning platform is geared to support the financial services arena, starting with life insurance (a $1T industry). Their technology will enable companies to leverage proprietary enterprise sales and marketing data to gain insights from their social networks. Ultimately, this will increase quality growth in lead generation, network connections, and trusted advisor relationships.

Socialeads’ AI platform enables financial services companies and their advisors to know the size, depth, and value of their professional and personal social networks. Socialeads’ advanced machine learning and natural language processing technology provides insights derived from social media. These real-time insights help advisors to better serve their clients. Socialeads continues to gain positive industry acceptance and partnership momentum which kicked off last fall when they won the Northwestern Mutual Reverse Pitch.

“It’s exciting to be joined by our new partners building Socialeads and helping our customers and their clients on their journeys of financial planning and securing their families’ futures. The Winnebago Seed Fund and their commitment to growing advanced technology companies make them a perfect partner,” said Larry Hitchcock, CEO of Socialeads. “We’re also excited to have continued support from Cream City Venture Capital and the amazing people at Northwestern Mutual who have been instrumental in collaborating with us to bring the vision of Socialeads to reality.”

“I’m excited to work with Larry and his talented team,” said David Trotter, Managing Director at The Winnebago Seed Fund. “Socialeads is a great example of what is possible when different groups work together to solve challenging problems.”

“Socialeads is building a unique solution which will allow our advisors to deliver financial security to more clients,” said Craig Schedler, Venture Partner at Northwestern Mutual. “It’s a privilege to partner with a team building a technology company in Milwaukee that is solving a large problem sales professionals in many industries face.”

Socialeads is the third startup to be funded by the Winnebago Seed Fund and largest investment to date, whose goal is to invest in Wisconsin entrepreneurs and grow startups throughout the state. The seed investment in Socialeads will advance the company’s technology and reach – truly a positive sign of support for entrepreneurial growth within the region.