Near (company)
 | |
| Private | |
| Industry | Technology |
| Founded | 2012 |
| Founder | Anil Mathews |
| Headquarters | Singapore |
Number of locations | San Francisco, London, Bangalore, Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney |
Area served | Global |
Number of employees | 50-100 |
| Website |
www |
Near is a privately held location intelligence platform founded in Nov 2012 having direct presence in Australia, Japan, South East Asia, India, Europe, and United States. Near is headquartered in Singapore.
History
Near was founded as AdNear[1] in Bangalore by Anil Mathews, who continues to serve as the CEO of the company. In its early days, the Near Platform used data from mobile towers and wifi networks to determine a person’s location. With the large scale adoption of GPS-enabled smart phones and devices, the current platform processes GPS-based location data as well. The Near Platform utilizing location-indexed data was launched in November 2012. In 2013, the company moved its headquarters from Bangalore to Singapore.[2][3] The company has received funding from venture capital firms Sequoia Capital,[4]JP Morgan Private Equity Group,[5] Telstra Ventures and Global Brain Corporation to date.[6] It raised $6.5 million in Series A funding,[1] and the $19 million raised in its 2014 Series B fundraising was the most raised by any company that year.[7][8] In Fall 2015, the company changed its name from “AdNear” to “Near” to highlight its mission of building a scalable location-intelligence platform to power the next generation of location-aware products and services.[9][10]
Near Platform
The Near Platform has experienced continuous growth and adoption since its inception. Platform users have included seven of the eleven largest automobile companies using the platform, as well as additional Fortune 100 companies.[3] Platform growth is tracked in terms of mobile audience profiles and number of places of interest (POIs). The platform has grown from nearly 100 million profiles in early 2014 to currently having over 1 billion profiled users across Australia, Japan, South East Asia and Europe. Furthermore, Near has nearly 65 million plus points of interest and region descriptions across markets in APAC, Japan, Europe and USA making it one of the largest location platforms. More than 300 global brands use Near to get intelligence about their consumers, and act on it.[11] Use cases of location intelligence include mobile marketing, retail analytics, market research, consumer insights, macro-economic urban planning and others.
Allspark
In June 2016, Near announced the global launch of Allspark, the Mobile-First Audience Cloud that enables brands to visualize, engage and analyze audience data including their location, behavior, demographic and interest. This first-of-a-kind SaaS product is powered by the Near Platform and encapsulates Near’s expertise and best practices running all phases of mobile marketing for its clients.[12] Allspark allows brands to curate their audience segments based on historical and real-time data, target them in real-time and also measure campaign impact.[13]
Recognitions
The utility, relevance and business impact of Near’s platform and products has been recognized internationally. Listed below are awards of note:
- In May 20, 2014, Near won top Mobile Startup Award at TiE50, Silicon Valley.[14]
- In May 2015, Near was recognized as a 2015 Cool Vendor in Consumer Dynamics by Gartner.[15]
- In January 2016, Near was recognized as one of the top 4 players in the location-enabled platform market by Technavio.[16]
- In May 2016, Near was recognized as one of top 5 players in the global location-based search and advertising market by Technavio.[17]
- In June 2016, Near was featured as a location intelligence provider with spatial capabilities in the Vendor Landscape report by Forrester.[18]
- In August 2016, Near was featured as one of the niche vendors in the BI platforms and Analytics Software space by Gartner.[19]
- In October 2016, Near won the 2016 Frost & Sullivan Location-based Intelligence Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award.[20]
References
- 1 2 "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". Tech in Asia.
- ↑ Aparna Ghosh. "Firms seek to give mobile digital ads more traction". Live Mint.
- 1 2 "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". Tech in Asia.
- ↑ "Adnear : Sequoia Capital : India".
- ↑ "AdNear raises $6.3M from Sequoia & Canaan Partners".
- ↑ "AdNear raises $19M from Telstra Ventures, Global Brain & Existing Partners in Series B".
- ↑ Business Standard (20 October 2014). "AdNear raises $19 million".
- ↑ "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". Tech in Asia.
- ↑ "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". Tech in Asia.
- ↑ "Effective Ad Metrics Sorely Lacking in Singapore; Zeotap Raises Series A for Indian Centre - ExchangeWire.com".
- ↑ Lauryn Chamberlain (June 14, 2016). "GeoMarketing - Beyond Mobile Ad Spend: Near Uses Location Data To Help Brands Plan Offline Marketing". Yext.
- ↑ "Ad Tech Daily - Near Launches Its Mobile-First Audience Cloud, Allspark". June 7, 2016.
- ↑ "Technology: Near Breaks Ground With Allspark, Its New Mobile-First Audience Cloud". B&T Magazine. June 6, 2016.
- ↑ "TiE50 Awards Program". TiE Silicon Valley. 2014.
- ↑ "ComputerWorld from IDG - Gartner names AdNear as a 2015 Cool Vendor in Consumer Dynamics". May 6, 2015.
- ↑ "Location-enabled Platform Market in Southeast Asia 2016-2020". Technavio. January 20, 2016.
- ↑ "Global Location-based Search and Advertising Market 2016-2020". Technavio. May 9, 2016.
- ↑ "Vendor Landscape: Spatial Analysis And Location Intelligence, Q2 2016". Forrester. June 2, 2016.
- ↑ Bhavish Sood and Twiggy Lo (August 2, 2016). "Competitive Landscape: BI Platforms and Analytics Software, Asia/Pacific". Gartner, Inc.
- ↑ "Top Singapore Firms Recognized at the 2016 Frost & Sullivan Singapore Excellence Awards". Frost & Sullivan. October 15, 2016.