Startups > Near

Near

Near helped enterprises understand consumer behavior using location and behavioral intelligence data.

Debt Financing $236M total Founded 2012 Singapore, Central Region 333 employees

⚠️ COMPANY STATUS: Near Intelligence filed for bankruptcy in December 2023 and is permanently closed. The following profile is provided for historical reference only. Near was a location intelligence SaaS platform that processed data from 1.6 billion unique user IDs and 70 million points of interest across 44+ countries. Its flagship product, Allspark, enabled marketing and operations teams to understand consumer online and offline behaviors through natural language queries. The platform served enterprises in retail, real estate, QSR, travel, telecom, and financial services.

Problem solved

Marketing and operations teams lack unified intelligence on consumer offline and online behaviors, locations, and affinities to drive targeted engagement and business growth.

Target customer

Scaled enterprises in retail, real estate, QSR, travel/tourism, telecom, and financial services seeking location intelligence and customer behavior insights.

Website LinkedIn Crunchbase Twitter / X

Founders

Anil Mathews

Founder & CEO

Founded Near in 2012; reported 100% year-on-year growth before bankruptcy filing in December 2023.

Funding history

Series funding $100M July 2019 Led by Unknown · Sequoia Capital, JP Morgan Private Equity Group, Cisco Investments, Telstra Ventures

Debt Financing $100M November 2022 Led by Unknown · Unknown

Total raised: $236M

Industries

Artificial Intelligence Analytics Location Based Services Marketing SaaS

Pricing

Not publicly available; enterprise custom pricing model.

Notable customers

News Corp, Mastercard, McDonald's Singapore

Tech stack

Modernizr (JavaScript libraries) jQuery (JavaScript libraries) AOS (JavaScript libraries) Bootstrap (UI frameworks) Vimeo (Video players) PWA Open Graph LottieFiles HSTS (Security) Font Awesome (Font scripts) Google Font API (Font scripts) Nginx (Reverse proxies) Google Workspace (Email) Unpkg (CDN) HubSpot (Marketing automation) Google Tag Manager (Tag managers) Amazon Web Services (PaaS) Cookiebot (Cookie compliance) AWS Certificate Manager (SSL/TLS certificate authorities)

Website

near.com/

Competitors

Foursquare

Broader geospatial technology platform focused on location intelligence with different product suite.

Placer.ai

Specializes in foot traffic data and location analytics for retail and commercial real estate segments.

Unacast

Location intelligence competitor with different data sourcing and analytics approach.

Gravy Analytics

Competitor in location and behavioral analytics space with distinct product positioning.

Why this matters: ⚠️ HISTORICAL REFERENCE ONLY. Near was a notable example of a well-funded location intelligence startup ($236M raised) with prominent investors (Sequoia, JP Morgan, Cisco) that achieved 100% YoY growth but ultimately filed for bankruptcy in December 2023, highlighting challenges in the competitive location intelligence market.

Best for: This company is no longer operational. Historical use case: Enterprise marketing and operations teams needing location-based consumer insights for targeted campaigns.

Use cases

Retail Footfall Optimization

McDonald's Singapore used Near's platform to increase footfall and boost sales through optimized out-of-home advertising placements. The platform enabled location-based targeting and real-time foot traffic insights to drive customer visits.

Natural Language Data Queries

Marketing teams used Allspark's natural language interface to answer complex questions (e.g., 'How many women shop at Whole Foods in San Francisco?') without technical resources, enabling faster decision-making.

Multi-Country Consumer Behavior Analysis

Global enterprises leveraged Near's data covering 1.6 billion unique users across 44+ countries to understand regional consumer behaviors and optimize campaigns across geographies.

Alternatives

Foursquare Broader geospatial platform with location-based services; choose if you need more than location intelligence.

Placer.ai Better for retail and commercial real estate foot traffic analysis; choose for hyperlocal retail insights.

Unacast Alternative location intelligence provider; choose for different data sourcing methodology and pricing structure.

FAQ

What did Near do? +

Near was a location intelligence SaaS platform that processed behavioral and location data from 1.6 billion users across 44+ countries. Its Allspark product enabled marketing teams to query consumer behavior patterns in natural language and drive targeted campaigns. The company is no longer operational following December 2023 bankruptcy.

Why is Near no longer operating? +

Near Intelligence filed for bankruptcy in December 2023 and is permanently closed. The company was previously well-funded ($236M total) and growing at 100% YoY, but ultimately could not sustain operations.

Who were Near's customers? +

Notable customers included News Corp, Mastercard, and McDonald's Singapore. The platform primarily served scaled enterprises in retail, real estate, QSR, travel, telecom, and financial services sectors.

What are alternatives to Near? +

Foursquare (broader geospatial platform), Placer.ai (retail/commercial real estate focus), Unacast (alternative location intelligence), and Gravy Analytics are comparable location intelligence and behavioral analytics platforms.

How did Near's Allspark product work? +

Allspark allowed non-technical users to ask natural language questions about consumer behavior and location data (e.g., 'How many women shop at Whole Foods in San Francisco?') and receive data-driven answers. It abstracted away technical complexity to democratize location intelligence access.