ViralGains, a startup that provides a video-advertising marketplace for publishers and advertisers, is expanding into new markets thanks to the funding it announced Thursday.

The startup raised $2.8 million of a $3.3 million round and plans to take on the market in Southern California, New York City, and Chicago.

A variety of companies are vying the growing online video ad market. Google launched Partner Select in June. Another player is TubeMogul, which went public in July.

“This round is going to allow ViralGains to scale up our advertising technology platform to bring on more advertisers who can buy video ad placements from us, and more publishers who can create revenue from those ad placements.” said ViralGains CEO Jay Singh.

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ViralGains pushes advertisers’ YouTube videos to targeted audiences. The company says it “targets by 4,000 human attributes” and uses “a recommendation engine to find viewers who are most interested in watching the advertiser’s video.”

More specifically, Singh has explained in the past that ViralGains watches what people do with video ads, figures out the best people to deliver ads to, and then hones in on those people with ads.

This round is led by Hub Angels, with participation from 45 investors include 500 Startups’ Dave McClure. Rapper Nasir “Nas” Jones also invested in it.

The company started in March 2012 and is headquartered in Boston. It graduated from 500 Startups’ seventh batch in October.

Its customers include a bunch of high-profile companies such as Exxon, Nestlé, Lexus, and State Farm.