The firm said the cash will be used to focus resources to commercialise its mobile data collection and analysis products, which include polls, surveys, ad recall studies, facial recognition technology and more.

Companies using Lumi technology include Ipsos, EMI, Sweden’s national broadcaster Sveriges Television, Finland’s national broadcaster Yleisradio Oy and Italian media agency Mediaset.

In its work with Ipsos the two firms collaborated to see how viewers reacted in real-time to the televised broadcast of the Oscars. That project won an award at the Globalpark’s mobile research conference this year and the duo have also been shortlisted in the Best Innovation category for the 2011 Research Magazine awards.

Lumi co-founder and director Rolfe Swinton said: “We consider ourselves very fortunate to be able to draw on Chris Morris’s experience. Moreover, with his investment, we are able to accelerate the development of our technologies and also commit to expanding our team to support client development on the ground in North America, Europe, and Asia.”