MarTech startup POCKLA has today announced it has raised £1.6 million to scale its proprietary AI-powered content strategy and creation platform in a seed funding round led by Venrex. Other high-profile investors and advisors joining the round include The Sidemen’s VC arm Upside Ventures, Love Ventures, Shuttle, and Syndicate Room, plus a wealth of industry heavyweights including Rich Waterworth, formerly at TikTok, Dan Cobley, previously Head of Google UK/Ireland, and Michael Chock and Ryan Quinn, formerly at MiQ.
POCKLA’s vision to help marketers and brands create like the world’s best content creators brought YouTube’s biggest group, Sidemen, to the table as investors and partners. With over 146 million subscribers, the British YouTube group is rewriting the content playbook, driving massive commercial success with multiple consumer brands and now venture capital.
POCKLA was born out of co-founders Hugo and Rupert’s recognition of the shift in modern media and a new medium of dominant content. Social platforms are driven by genuine, interactive, and authentic exchanges between creators and their communities, with 73% of consumers preferring short-form video when exploring products or services. Authentic exchanges captivate audiences through entertainment or inspiration, pushing traditional, product-centric messaging to the sidelines as social algorithms and users prioritise authenticity.
A large swathe of brands require greater knowledge of the processes, mechanisms, and expertise to navigate this new medium of communication. Doing this authentically is challenging, which has been seen with the backlash larger corporate brands have received when trying to threadjack cultural moments and trends.
POCKLA bridges this gap by helping brands find their "internet voice" and identify topics and conversations their audience truly cares about with its combination of human strategy and LLM AI-driven - rather than keyword-based - approach. These insights then drive POCKLA’s content engine, which takes brands quickly from strategy to delivery of authentic, impactful content that helps them lead conversations and build genuine community engagement.
The London-based martech business will use the funding to accelerate its product development and expand its team to empower brands and content creators to thrive in today’s fast-paced digital landscape.
