Near Raises $143M In Biggest MarTech Investment Ever

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B&T Magazine
By B&T Magazine



Location-based customer profiling company Near has garnered $US100 million ($AU143 million) in a Series D funding from Greater Pacific Capital (GPC), in what is the largest investment ever made into a martech start-up.

Backed by Telstra and a strategic partner of NewsCorp’s NewsConnect, Near allows brands to track the physical behaviour of customers such as location and transactions through AI, within a privacy-led environment.

This allows marketers to see when customers have interacted with a brick-and-mortar store and the online store, for example.

Foxtel’s ad sales house MCN is also a client of Near’s.

“We are humbled that we were able to close one of the largest rounds in our industry. It is a testament to our offering backed by unique data-sets and powerful science,” said Near founder and CEO Anil Mathews.

“With the new funds, we will be investing heavily in data and engineering to launch a suite of new products, that’ll help strengthen our position in existing markets such as Australia and the US, and open up key strategic markets.

“We are a rare example of a true SaaS business focused on generating long-term customer value and sustainable revenues. We are the only company aggregating this quality and scale of data at a global level.”

The company’s Allspark offering has scaled Software as a Service revenue faster than any of its other products, according to Mathews.

Near hit $10 million in annual revenue after launching its first platform and has grown 100 per cent year on year over the past two years.

GPC CEO Ketan Patel said: “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.

“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.”




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