Montreal-based clean room provider Optable has received $20 million USD from a syndicate of investors in a Series A funding round.

The investors include Hearst Ventures (the investment arms of the U.S.-based media company), Brightspark Ventures, Desjardins Capital, Deloitte Ventures and AsterX.

Optable plans to use the funds to expand its sales and marketing team to meet the increased demand for its data collaboration platform and clean room solution designed for the ad industry. The new capital will also enable it to scale up its global presence, technical talent and product development, focusing on building new data collaboration solutions to address the needs of the industry.

Yves Poiré, co-founder and CEO of Optable, said the diverse group of investors validated the company’s approach to privacy-centric data solutions. Clean rooms have emerged as a popular potential alternative for audience targeting and measurement in a post-cookie industry, as well as under new privacy regulations proposed in several jurisdictions. Optable’s approach is focused on interoperability, allowing advertisers to benefit from a wider range of data sources.

In addition, Optable and Hearst have also entered into a commercial agreement in which Hearst will use Optable’s platform to amplify its first-party data.

Hearst’s publishing brands include Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Elle and Car & Driver. It also owns ESPN and A+E, as well as several local newspapers and TV stations in cities across the U.S.

“With Optable’s sophisticated technology, we can provide marketers increased performance by leveraging high-quality data to power planning, activation and measurement,” said Michael Nuzzo, VP and head of data solutions at Hearst Magazines. This partnership will also offer our clients the ability to utilize their first-party data in a clean room environment and optimize their marketing efforts and better serve their
customers.”