Signals raises $1.1m in Seed funding round with investors ACS and Enago

We’re excited to announce that we have raised $1.1m in our Seed funding round backed by minority investments from strategic investors ACS Publications, a division of the American Chemical Society (ACS), and Enago, along with the Scholarly Angels and other leading angel investors.

This investment is more than financial. It reflects a shared vision to deliver deep evaluations of all research so it can be trusted, understood, and used to push the boundaries of our knowledge. As the volume of research increases and concerns around quality, trust, and AI grow, the need for comprehensive, dynamic, and transparent evaluation is urgent. With the backing of industry leaders, Signals is setting the new standard for how the world evaluates and trusts research.  

The investment enables us to accelerate Signals’ mission in three key areas: 

• Accelerate development of our core research integrity products, helping publishers to protect their reputations while bringing only trustworthy research to their communities without compromising on editorial efficiency.

• Scale our technology to meet rising demand, expand our proprietary data to deliver unique analysis, and further invest in our AI capabilities to ethically transform editorial decision-making.

• Leverage the Signals Data Graph, a complex network of the world’s research data, to enhance publisher decision-making beyond research integrity and help institutions, corporates and researchers identify high-quality research they can confidently build on.  

Signals co-founders Elliott Lumb and Tiago Barros

In this funding round we intentionally sought partners with key strategic synergies. 

• ACS Publications staff will provide feedback and expertise to inform development of our best-in-class research integrity solution. Sarah Tegen, Chief Publishing Officer of ACS Publications, will join the Signals Board as an Observer, bringing extensive leadership experience and expertise in scholarly publishing.
  
  
• Enago and Signals have formed a reciprocal partnership to deliver increased value and efficiency to publishers. Signals products will be enhanced by Enago services and technology, while Enago’s own research integrity offerings will be supported by Signals. Enago also provides unique expertise and distribution to researchers and publishers in emerging markets.

An important principle underpinning this investment is that Signals remains independent and publisher neutral. These partnerships will create a comprehensive one-stop research integrity offering, making selection simpler for publishers in a market crowded with one-point solutions. 

“Protecting the integrity of the scholarly record through better tools is core to the mission of ACS. By investing in Signals, we aim to accelerate uptake of these capabilities while supporting a solution that benefits the entire scholarly community. ACS is excited to help take Signals to the next level.”  

— Sarah Tegen, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Publishing Officer, ACS Publications

“This partnership reflects our shared commitment to helping publishers navigate growing challenges around research quality and trust. Signals and Enago are coming together to combine technology and human expertise into a stronger, more connected ecosystem for evaluating and supporting high-quality research for the global publishing community.”

— Abhigyan Arun, CEO of Enago

What’s next

An increasing number of publishers are adopting Signals products, from small societies to industry leaders. This reflects the industry’s determination to prevent problematic articles from entering the scholarly record. Get in touch to book a demo for your journals.

To support our next stage of growth, we’re looking for mission-driven individuals to help solve one of the biggest challenges the research ecosystem faces. This includes roles in Engineering, Sales, Operations, and Data. Check out the open opportunities and reach out if you are motivated to join us in building the next generation of research analysis and evaluation.