• by Felicia Greiff , February 3, 2016

UK-based ad tech company Grapeshot raised $8.5 million in C round funding, for a total of $14.25 million in external funds raised. The company plans to use the new round to fuel its global expansion, including new offices in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sydney.

IQ Capital and Draper Esprit led the round, along with participation from existing investor Albion Ventures.

Grapeshot also named a COO, Kurt Kratchman, who will work from New York and oversee Grapeshot's global operations. Kratchman was previously chief strategy officer at Schematic (now POSSIBLE), and general manager at Blast Radius before both companies were acquired by WPP.

John Snyder, Grapeshot founder and CEO, said in a statement that the investment will drive rapid expansion of the company's current presence in New York and Singapore, along with the new locales planned. (There's also an office in London.)

Grapeshot, whose technology analyzes content on a page before an advertiser buys ad space on a page via real-time bidding, counts Chase, Dyson, IBM, AppNexus, Johnson & Johnson, British Airways, MediaCom and MailOnline as clients. It's also integrated with major programmatic marketplaces including AppNexus, MediaMath, Turn and The Trade Desk.