After a great six months here at Collider12, we couldn't help but reflect back and see what we, and our startups, have achieved.
Locomizer Doubles Valuation In Collider Second Round Investment
Locomizer, the “big data” startup has secured a second round of investment from Collider. The investment, £50k, takes Collider’s holding to 20% and values the firm at more than double its valuation on entering the Collider “Collision Phase” in February. “The company has made excellent progress. We started with two very knowledgeable and very smart scientists and worked with them and the Collider12 brands to refine their proposition and develop their story and find the right application niche. Locomizer now has a very well defined proposition and product offer” explained Rose Lewis, a co-founder of Collider.
“Locomizer were chosen as the investors recognised their ability to achieve significant growth and they have a fantastic patentable algorithm,” Rose continued. “The Collision Phase allowed Locomizer to have access to brand data, test their technology with it, and prove their location analytics truly work. The investors were very impressed by the outcome of their extension experiments, and wanted to invest in this Post-Collision period.”
Alex Poliakov, Locomizer’s co-founder, said that the “additional money validates the strategic direction the company is undertaking, with the development of Audience Discovery Engine that enables audience discovery for relevant targeting based on people mobility patterns.” Locomizer's other co-founder, Alexei, said that he is "very proud to get recognition of Collider again and receive a follow-up investment! It has been an exciting journey with a team of Collider so far. It is unstoppable and life-changing."
UK-based Locomizer is an enterprise location analytics company, which was recently named by Mashable as one of the top 25 startups in the UK. Their world's first Audience Discovery Engine powered by Biology-inspired proprietary algorithm creates highly-targetable user interest profiles by identifying user behavior patterns from location updates (directly from mobile phones or via mobile apps like Twitter, FourSquare, etc). This enables their enterprise customers to uncover the right audience for the right targeting, resulting in higher mobile marketing ROI along with increased conversion and engagement rates. Visit http://www.locomizer.com for more details.
Since joining Collider, Locomizer has since seen their over-seas prospect improve considerably after being accepted into another accelerator in Silicon Valley, Momentum, partnered with Mobile Monday and Racket Space.
Guest Post From Locomizer
This is the full post that Alexei Poliakov, co-founder of Locomizer, was recently asked to write for the Telefonica blog, which you can see here.
Recently, we had a very interesting group discussion at the startup networking dinner hosted by Telefonica in San Francisco on “What is the future of maps?”. Since my startup, Locomizer, deals with a lot of location data on a daily basis, I would like to share my thoughts regarding this topic with a broader audience.
First, let us touch on some key trends that are redefining our notion of location and maps. We must admit that the era of persistent location is upon us as we speak. For better or worse, our whereabouts are tracked, analyzed and recorded on a constant basis. The abundance of mobile phones makes it easy to access personal data such as location. For example, cell-tower triangulation tracking generates tons of location data as the nearest cell-tower signals are determined every seven seconds. Moreover, the reality is that personal location data is not confined to just telecoms as it is being generated across multiple verticals. It is imperative for governments and business organizations to obtain customer consent and be more transparent about their usage of personal location data to avoid controversies like the NSA surveillance program.
Despite all these concerns, let’s face it - persistent location is here to stay. Location is our identity – the places we visit in our daily lives define our real-life preferences and interests. Consumers are warming up to the idea of personal location sharing as shown by the increasing usage of Facebook’s Nearby service. Last December, Facebook reported that 250 million users were tagging posts with location on a monthly basis which roughly corresponds to 800 geo-tags a second.
The explosion of personal location data creates a rewarding opportunity for organizations to gain a better understanding of their customers and their needs. However, the challenge is not in data availability but in how it is translated to retrieve the data-driven insights about customer behavior around certain places. To start winning in this space, one must own the “geo-stack” as famously described by Chris Dixon. Nevertheless, controlling the functional layers of geo-stacks, including geography maps, point of interest data, and customer geodata, may not be enough. Industry players must create a winning proposition showcasing a clear benefit for consumers to use their services AND to be at ease whilst sharing their personal location data.
So, to answer “What is the future of maps?”, I would like to paraphrase Fred Wilson and say that the future of maps is in understanding maps with people in them.
Alexei was working for big corporate names in the mobile and wireless domain until he co-founded a startup called Locomizer in February 2013. Locomizer is an enterprise location data analytics platform that enables audience discovery for relevant targeting. In June 2013, Mashable included Locomizer in their list of 25 Top UK startups.
Did you miss the previous Down The Pub?
Our last Down The Pub was a roaring success, with a range of brands, investors, and startups enjoying the London sunshine with a well-earned drink. Everyone enjoyed it so much, we couldn't wait to arrange another one. This time, we will be meeting at The Golden Lion, at 6pm, on 24th July, and you can sign up here to register your interest. See you there!
Collider Startups Make Mashable's Top 25 List
There are many 'Best Startups' lists out there, but most of them focus on the London scene, or that in Silicon Valley. However, this most recent one from Mashable includes startups from all over the UK, highlighting just how strong the startup ecosystem is.
We are chuffed to say it also includes two startups from Collider12; Seeker and Locomizer. To see what Mashable has to say about them and the other 23 startups included, click here.