MarketShare Partners has picked up an undisclosed amount of first-round funding from private equity firm Elevation Partners. Cofounded in 2005 by Dr. Dominique Hanssens, Wes Nichols and Jon Vein, the LA-based marketing analytics company pitches itself as “a strategic decision sciences firm offering the world’s leading capabilities around accountability and objective business intelligence.” MSP becomes only the fifth company in Elevation’s portfolio, joining Forbes and Palm (NSDQ: PALM). The PE firm’s stated mission is to invest between $50 million and $300 million but a spokesman told me: “That’s not a hard and fast rule. We have, for example, $425 million currently committed to Palm.”  So it’s possible this one comes in lower than $50 million ...

The company, which started with a combo of bootstrapping and angel funding, plans to use Elevation’s money for expansion, including rolling out its software suite that helps generate specific recommendations for marketing allocation, and for international growth. The latter could include acquisitions. Elevation senior advisor Ted Meisel, formerly CEO of Overture and president of search marketing at Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), joins the board. Montgomery & Co. advised MSP. Release.