Near secures $100m in funding

Near’s platform pulls in data from a number of sources including apps, public Wi-Fi, location and behavioural data, and then blends the online and offline data to build consumer profiles. 

Brands, enterprises and publishers can use the dataset, which covers 1.6 billion people in 44 countries, to curate audiences for marketing activity or to improve their own first-party data. The platform is used by companies including News Corp, MetLife, Mastercard and WeWork.

Founded in 2012, the Singapore-headquartered company has offices in San Francisco, New York, London, Bangalore, Tokyo and Sydney.

The funding brings Near’s total investment to date to $134m, including backing from Sequoia Capital and JP Morgan. Anil Mathews, founder and chief executive, Near, said: "With the new funds, we will be launching a suite of new data products, powered by the core platform. Further, the funds will not just help us strengthen our position in the existing markets, but also to open up key strategic markets."

Ketan Patel, chief executive of Greater Pacific Capital, added: "Near provides insights into human behaviour by analysing where people are, and combining that with a multitude of data points to predict and influence behaviour."