Retail traders pour into a tiny software company that's heavily shorted, causing shares to more than triple this week

• Shares of San Francisco-based Marin Software have surged 247% so far this week.
• The small advertising software company has been trending on Reddit investing threads.
• Marin has a 22% short interest rate, making it a target for day traders hoping for a short squeeze.

Shares of a tiny marketing software company have surged this week amid chatter from retail investors on Reddit.

San Francisco-based Marin Software, which provides marketing software for advertisers according to its website, has surged 247% since Monday, accelerating its valuation past $100 million.

The company was the top-trending stock on well-known Reddit investing threads such as Wall Street Bets on Tuesday, according to HypeEquity data.

The software company has a 22% short volume ratio, according to data from Fintel.io, making it a perfect fit for Reddit traders who have been known to target companies with high short interest rates in order to squeeze short sellers - like in GameStop's case.

Tuesday alone, Marin shares rallied as much as 77% to their highest in about three years. The company did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on its share price movement.

Last week, the company added a new feature to its flagship platform, MarinOne, whereby users can manage ads for online grocery platform Instacart to better reach customers, according to a press release.

Redditors have been on the prowl for new meme stocks in recent weeks and have been targeting small companies. For example, tiny Texas oil driller Torchlight has surged recently, along with Danish biotech company Orphazyme. The little-known names are among meme-stock behemoths like AMC Entertainment and GameStop, which have been Reddit favorites since the beginning of the year.