If you want to get items from a grocery store in Mexico City, Dataplor has global location intelligence to help you do that.
Founder and CEO Jeffrey Michener founded the company in 2016 to create an index of small businesses in emerging markets. The company raised $2 million in 2019 to bring Latin America's food delivery business online.
Dataplor uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, large-scale language models, and a purpose-built technology platform to ingest public domain data.
This isn't completely unique, but companies like ThoughtSpot, Esri, and Near are doing similar things when it comes to business and location intelligence. Dataplor's “secret sauce” is that it combines all of its technology and public domain data with the human factor. The company employs and trains more than 100,000 human verifiers, called Explorers, to verify all data via computers. Furthermore, we do not use any information that can identify individuals.
What is the answer to a question like “How many Taco Bells opened across South America last year?” or “What percentage of Europe's Walmarts are located near fast food restaurants?” ?”
Since then, the company has collected more than 300 million POI records (including physical location, business hours, contact information, credit card acceptance, consumer sentiment, etc.) for more than 15,000 brands in more than 200 countries and territories. data) has been accumulated.
Dataplor then licenses that data to third-party companies such as American Express, Zettle, and PayPal in a variety of industries, including logistics, real estate, and finance. Over 35 Fortune 500 brands already use Dataplor.
Dataplor's location intelligence tool that shows close rates. Image credit: Dataplor
“It's hard to know what the open and close rates are for companies like Starbucks because 10-K companies are always six months behind,” Michener told TechCrunch. “Other businesses also want to know if their competitors have closed or what other businesses around them are doing. [are] That way you can see if you can put a place there. We try to help them make decisions. ”
The company has also grown its sales by an average of 2.5 times year-on-year since 2020, and is on track to return to profitability this year, Michener said.
Now, the company wants to grow even faster, and Dataplor has raised $10.6 million in Series A funding led by Spark Capital. Spark is known for its early investments in Slack, Affirm, Postmates, Discord, and Deel. Also participating in the round were Quest Venture Partners, Acronym Venture Capital, Circadian Ventures, Two Lanterns Venture Partners, and APA Venture Partners. The company raised a total of $20.3 million.
Dataplo will use the funding to make strategic hires and accelerate sales and brand presence, Michener said.
In the Series A, Sparks and general partner Alex Finkelstein, who led the deal, “had a strong belief in what Datapuller was doing,” which is why Michener chose them to lead the deal. That's the reason, he said. As part of the investment, Mr. Finkelstein will join his Dataplor board of directors, which includes his ffVC founding partner John Frankel.
“Alex looked at the big picture and realized we weren't just a POI or location data company, we were helping people get somewhere or sell a product,” Michener said. he said. “He said, 'That's a really big opportunity,' knowing everything about the business and knowing 100 million more locations. No one's ever done that before. This really resonated with me. “If we share the same vision, we should be able to leverage capital and grow efficiently and effectively.''
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