INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
One of the Holy Grails in the world of advertising and marketing has been finding a way to accurately capture and understand what consumers
That goal has become even more elusive in recent years, with the surge of regulations around privacy and data protection that limit what
kind of information can be collected and used
Now, a startup believes it has cracked the code, and has raised a large round of funding that underscores its success so far and what it
countries to create anonymised, location-based profiles of users (1.6 billion each month at present) based on a trove of information that it
the biggest rounds ever to be raised in this particular area of marketing technology
million last September).Near is not disclosing its valuation, but founder and CEO Anil Mathews said in an interview that the company has
and WeWork.Near (not to be confused with the blockchain startup that raised $12 million last week; yes sometimes startups have the same
investor too but sold its stake in a secondary deal).The problem that Near is tackling is not a new one
demand from) companies to better track who is using their products and services, and also to proactively figure out who would be the best
providers directly, retailers and Wi-Fi operators.The similarities end there, however, said Mathews
He says Near has a (patented) technique based on machine learning algorithms and other inferential AI technology, which it uses to
accurately merge all of these details together to create individual profiles, all without ever attaching a name or real identifiers of any
technology, he noted, but Near is the first to extend the offering far (so to speak): none others have the same global reach, making it a
popular partner for multinationals researching for campaigns and product development.Marketing research is one of the main features of
about the profile of a user, or use a dragging graphic tool on an interactive map to modify the geography, and so on.Mathews notes that the
of who is actually connected to the Near network
the actual number of female visitors is probably more like 150,000).From there, you can save a query to return to it, or even use the Near
platform to connect through to other services to craft and launch marketing campaigns
protection rules in different markets.Those kinds of integrations is likely one area that will start to get developed even more with this
like Facebook, Google and Amazon have made a huge business out of figuring out how to identify and target audiences and specific users with
products and services by way of advertising and more
Mathews said helped it get over the line with investors
