An artificial intelligence (AI) start-up which helps authors and musicians to advertise their work more cost-effectively has tapped some of the leading figures in the UK ad industry in a seven-figure funding round.

Sky News understands Shimmr, which was founded by Nadim Sadek, has raised £3m at a valuation of £12m.

Its backers include David Kershaw, Bill Muirhead and Jeremy Sinclair, three of the founders of the London-listed ad agency M&C Saatchi.

Shimmr uses AI to usurp the work of strategists, creatives and media-planning executives to create automated ads for content creators in industries such as music and book publishing.

“It’s the new model, the future of advertising,” Mr Sadek said.

“Shimmr enables any industry with ‘long-tail’ assets to afford to advertise in ways that were previously impossible.”

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According to the company, only 5% of publishers’ catalogues are visibly marketed, leaving the vast majority of the assets they own with no advertising support.

It claims its automated ads generate a significant uplift in sales for those authors’ works.

Other investors in the funding round include Ben Bilboul, another London-based advertising executive.

Shimmr’s fundraising comes amid a proliferation in the use of AI tools in the publishing industry, including in the generation of newspaper and online stories by some news media groups.

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