Singapore-based location-based startup AdNear expands to Europe

The company is focusing its efforts on the UK with the rest of Europe on the horizon, said Shobhit Shukla, AdNear's chief revenue officer. “Europe is such a hungry region for new technology and analytics – we are really excited to have a stronger presence in the coming months.”

Based in Singapore, AdNear also has a presence in Japan, Australia, USA and India. 

The firm has appointed Ken Parnham, the former managing director TrustE, a data privacy management company, as general manager of Europe, to be based in its new London office. AdNear is also in the process of recruiting more people for the region.

In Europe, the company will be pushing its research and insights products, as Shukla points out that marketers are not only interested in identifying the right audience, but also in gathering real-time insights.

The firm’s Europe team is focused on building case studies and showcasing the capabilities of using mobile first data – not just for audience curation but also for real-time insights. “That, in itself, is unique and unmatched in Europe,” added Shukla.

The strategy differs from Asia where marketers are less likely to do long term investments in data. In Asia, AdNear’s marquee product is its geo-location platform that gathers location-based audience insights via a gamut of third-party applications.

According to Shukla, AdNear has an early entrant advantage in the relatively new mobile data and insights space. “Though the market is evolved on the mobile front, there is still a gap in terms of the real-time customer insights marketers want and those available in the market today.”