• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, January 27, 2020

“We typically don’t announce investments but we feel this transaction represents an important milestone,” Dylan Collins, SuperAwesome’s co-founder and CEO, stated on Monday.

While the exact figure was not disclosed, M12’s backing is part of a new round of funding for SuperAwesome, which totaled $17 million. That brings the for-profit company’s total investment to $37 million, to date.

M12 is positioning the investment as part a broader effort to pursue new business opportunities across Europe. The fund just opened its first office in London.

UK-based, SuperAwesome provides a platform for companies interested in offering advertising, video and communities that are “safe” for children, as well as parental consent options.

Launched in 2013, Collins said SuperAwesome’s so-called “kid-tech platform” is now responsible for 12 billion kid-safe “transactions” -- including ad impressions -- every month.

Technology and marketing companies have good reason to be investing in ways to make their offerings safer for children. Among other legal threats, the Federal Trade Commission reportedly investigated YouTube’s handling of children’s content and data last year.

In addition to SuperAwesome, M12 is targeting businesses involved in big data, analytics, business software as a service, cloud infrastructure, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and productivity and security.

Led by Matthew Goldstein, one of M12’s founding partners, the new London office is also expected to prioritize businesses in the Series A through C funding stages.

Since its own founding in 2016, M12 says it has invested in 87 companies, from talent operating system Beamery to travel and tourism startup Comtravo.