Geofeedia taps ExactTarget alums to head new Indy office

Chicago-based Geofeedia, the company behind a popular social media intelligence platform, has opened an office in downtown Indianapolis and hired two ExactTarget alums to lead local operations.

Geofeedia’s analytics platform is used by the likes of CNN, Mall of America, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and others to monitor social media activity in specific locations. Phil Harris, co-founder of the 3-year-old company, said he’d been looking for people to lead his sales and product arms for nearly a year, and he found them in Indianapolis.

“I think that ExactTarget has really changed the entire technology scene in Indianapolis,” Harris, a former Priceline.com executive, said in a phone interview. “And what we see is an opportunity to capitalize on [that].”

Wes Antrobus, who previously led a 60-person North American marketing division at ExactTarget, now serves as vice president of inside sales at Geofeedia.

R.J. Talyor, a 10-year ExactTarget veteran who dealt in product and strategy, is vice president of product management.

Geofeedia is moving into 2,000 square feet in Circle Tower, 55 Monument Circle. The 25-employee company anticipates having about eight employees in Indianapolis by the end of the month and more next year.

Geofeedia launched in Naples, Florida, in 2011 and moved to Chicago the following year. It had five employees this time last year. Lately, it’s been adding about 50 clients a month, Harris said. It plans to use $3.5 million in recently raised venture capital to build out sales and product teams.

Tim Kopp, a former chief marketing officer at ExactTarget, invested in the $3.5 million round. He said he expects similar expansions to Indianapolis because of its growing pool of experienced leaders from firms like ExactTarget.

“It is an absolute horse race to get the best people who have experience scaling and building these companies,” Kopp said.