Contributions from Spark Capital and Accel Partners are part of a $3.5 million (£2.3 million) investment which is set to fuel the expansion of Qriously’s US and European footprint.

London and New York-headquartered Qriously has secured the backing of existing venture capital firm Accel Partners as well as new backer Spark Capital.

The business measures, in real time, location-based public sentiment by replacing ads with questions in smartphone and tablet applications.

Back in March 2011 the company closed a $1.6 million round, with contributions coming from Accel Partners and Amalfi Partners.

Its newly-garnered equity capital will use used to grow in the US and Europe as well as to extend the application of its network beyond research. It will do this through a new product called asQvertising, which it describes as a mobile advertising approach based around opinion targeting.

Christopher Kahler, CEO of Qriously, comments, ‘Everything we develop focuses on unlocking the intrinsic worth of people’s opinions. 

‘We believe there is a great depth of value behind the question network model because you can focus the collective wisdom of the crowd to gain unparalleled insight and enable efficient ad targeting at scale.

New backer Spark Capital has backed companies including Tumblr, which was recently sold to Yahoo! for $1.1 billion, Twitter and Foursquare.

The firm’s co-founder, Santo Politi, says that Qriously’s technology combines ‘simplicity with power’ when it comes to targeted advertising, making mobile measurement and engagement an easier process for marketers and advertising executives.

He adds, ‘We are excited to see this great team infiltrate the industry with the unique asQvertising network.’

Accel Partners second investment in Qriously is part of its ongoing efforts to step up investment in Europe, especially London.

More on Accel Partners:

• Passion Capital and Accel Partners invest in GoCardless for second time
• MyHeritage nets return capital from Index and Accel
• London taxi app business hails $17 million

In March, the global venture capital firm achieved the final close on its Accel London IV fund which reached $475 million. It will be targeting early- and growth-stage technology companies in sectors including consumer internet, big data, cloud, SaaS and mobile.

Speaking then, Kevin Comolli, partner at Accel London, said, ‘The fact that Accel London IV was raised in eight weeks and was significantly over-subscribed is a powerful endorsement of Accel London and the market opportunity in Europe and Israel from our world-class investors.’