Near, an AI platform that utilizes mobility data from a vast range of third-party sources like data aggregators, app developers, public Wi-Fi hotspots, censuses, and more to deliver insights on human behavior, has raised $100 million in a series D funding round from Greater Pacific Capital (GPC).
Near has Raised a Total $134 Million Till Date
Prior to this fundraising, Near had raised $34 million from giant backers including Sequoia Capital India and JP Morgan, and with another $100 million in the bank. Company said that it plans to launch new data products and expand into new markets.
Near CEO and founder Anil Mathews added, “We are a rare example of a true SaaS business focused on generating long-term customer value and sustainable revenues.” He further said, “We are the only company aggregating this quality and scale of data at a global level. Our product Allspark has scaled its SaaS revenues faster than anything we have historically seen.”
Ketan Patel, CEO of GPC, commented, “Near provides insights into human behavior by analyzing where people are, and combining that with a multitude of data points to predict and influence behavior. Given it does this across the globe in a privacy protected manner, it is well-positioned to create an exciting new space that delivers value to both people, and those that wish to build relationships with them.”
Big Data Analytics
Established in 2012, Near applies analytics to help companies, such as brands, enterprises, publishers, or marketers, determine behavioral attributes of people in the real world.
According to the company, it develops its own AI and machine learning (ML) models in-house, which it further uses to help cleanse data, remove noise, and automate audience curation through understanding the user’s query.
Carbon & Allspark Offerings
Carbon, one of the core products of Near is a data-enrichment offering that companies can use to enhance their own digital data with real-world attributes.
Near has a flagship software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering called Allspark, which is a marketing automation tool that enables marketers to visualize and analyze the dynamics of their target audience around demographics, interests, location, and more. This analysis can be used to inform their various campaigns, or carry out a competitor analysis. Likewise, it can also help them measure the impact of their spending through attribution analytics.
For instance, Allspark helps its users to find out how often a particular demographic, such as females between 18 and 25, visit a specific area or type of store and at what times of day.
Allspark can also surface “spatial insights” such as how many people visit a specific location, how long they stay at that location, and how far they traveled to get there.
The Near platform can then generate user-friendly reports with the required data for anyone inside a company to look at.
