Nugit raises $5.2 million for AI analytics

SINGAPORE - Nugit, a Singapore-based company focusing on applying artificial intelligence to data analytics, has raised US$5.2 million from Sequoia India.

Nugit currently manages more than 146,000 connected ad accounts for over 500 brands. It touts a highly scalable technology that it claims can integrate, clean, analyse and present insights from marketing data in a matter of minutes, freeing analysts from hours spent wrestling with Excel pivot tables.

Facebook and Johnson & Johnson currently use Nugit’s technology, and the company says it has reduced reporting time by up to 80 percent.

“Companies don’t need to hire more data analysts,” Dave Sanderson, founder and CEO of Nugit, told Campaign Asia-Pacific. “Marketers can focus their time on what really matters most—crafting business strategy and making informed decisions.”

According to Sanderson, many of the current systems being used are slow, are over-priced and take months to implement. “We believe it can be much leaner and more intelligent, and Sequoia India’s investment will help us accelerate our R&D in these areas.”

Nugit works directly with advertisers, agencies and publishers in the region. Some of its enterprise clients have over 8,500 data sources across brands, channels and countries. Even mid-sized companies, Sanderson said, have at least 50 data sources. “There’s a lot of savings in combining this, cleaning and getting it into decision-ready format,” he said.

The use of artificial intelligence in marketing is still in the early stages. However, there are lots of experiments happening both on the productivity side and the consumer-facing side. Last week, Amazon, Google's DeepMind, Facebook, IBM and Microsoft announced a joint partnership to accelerate the development of AI.

“As with any transformation, there is a group of laggards overly attached to their legacy processes and it will take longer for them to embrace technology," Sanderson added.

The Australian entrepreneur has over 13 years of digital experience. He previously led search and insight teams at Maxus Asia Pacific and Datalicious.