TVSquared, which has increased its focus on connecting search advertising with TV performance analytics and optimization, announced Monday that it has raised another $8 million in funding to accelerate the expansion of its business, with $21 million in total.

The latest round was led by private equity partnership West Coast Capital, and supported by existing investors, including the Scottish Investment Bank.

TVSquared recently expanded its offices from Edinburgh, London, New York, and Los Angeles to Munich with its purchase of wywy. The acquisition brought real-time spot detection technology to ADvantage.

The company has been shoring up strong partnerships with cloud providers like Adobe. In March, Adobe Advertising Cloud announced a partnership with TVSquared allowing advertisers to gain same-day TV analytics and optimization data.

While the initial partnership offers analytics, online attribution for cable, local and national TV buys, the two are working on a plan to connect data from TV spots with paid search.

In an earlier email interview with Search Marketing Daily, TVSquared Chief Technology Officer Blair Robertson said the company sees a direct correlation between TV and search activity. And research shows that the highest search activity on an engine and website occurs during the minutes that follow the broadcast of a television advertisement.

Robertson explains that when the SearchSync platform detects a TV spot running, it triggers a dedicated search campaign to secure the top search ranking in the minutes after a TV spot airs.

The platform was designed to outbid competitors for the top spot in the moments after a TV ad airs. The advertiser controls whether they want to sync the campaigns or not by turning SearchSync on or off. 

 “It is critical that brands have the top search position during those high-interest moments,” Robertson wrote. “Click-through rates are significantly higher for the brand in that top spot.”

The latest round of funding will go toward this type of research and development, along with other projects. Recent product advances include audience-level insights to understand exactly “who” is responding to TV and optimize spend for those target audiences.