Location-based mobile advertising startup AdNear raises $6.5 million for Asia expansion

The funding came from India-based Sequoia Capital and a US venture capital company, Canaan Partners. AdNear has not disclosed either companies’ stake. 

AdNear’s advertising platform is build on a hybrid geo-location platform, which means it will support both smartphones and feature phones. The company’s website states that its targeting parameters include latitude and longitude, neighbourhood, or points of interest. At the moment, the company services clients like Toyota, Ford, Pizza Hut, Samsung, Nokia, Airtel and Titan. Apart from Singapore and India, the company also works with companies in Australia and New Zealand. 

In its annual Mobile Life study TNS revealed that consumers recognise the value of sharing their location to benefit from a range of services. Globally, nearly 30 per cent of the population uses smartphones, and in certain developed Asia-Pacific markets including Japan, Korea, Australia, Singapore, and Malaysia, that number is about 42 per cent.

According to the study, more than three in 10 smartphone users in Asia said they’d be open to mobile advertising if it were related to something they were interested in.