Apptopia Raises $20M to Expand Competitive Intelligence

Apptopia Secures $20 Million in Series C Funding for Expansion

Apptopia, a Boston-based provider of competitive intelligence within the mobile application market, has successfully completed a $20 million Series C funding round. This new capital injection is intended to facilitate the company’s growth into areas extending beyond traditional mobile apps.

Funding Details and Investor Participation

ABS Capital Partners spearheaded the latest financing effort. This follows a period of robust growth for Apptopia, with the business achieving 50% year-over-year increases for the past three years. The company also reports profitability since last year.

Existing investors, notably Blossom Street Ventures, also contributed to this funding round. Mike Avon, a co-founder of Millennial Media, and Paul Mariani from ABS Capital will be joining Apptopia’s board of directors.

Increased Demand Drives Funding

Apptopia attributes the need for this funding to a growing demand from businesses seeking a more comprehensive understanding of their digital performance. Brands are increasingly focused on detailed digital insights.

A Diverse Customer Base

Currently, Apptopia serves a wide range of clients, encompassing hundreds of corporations and financial institutions. Notable customers include Google, Visa, Coca-Cola, Target, Zoom, NBC, Unity Technologies, Microsoft, Adobe, Glu, Andreessen Horowitz, and Facebook.

Shifting Customer Needs for Granular Data

Previously, Apptopia’s clientele primarily sought high-level insights into digital engagement. However, there’s now a demand for more granular data and specific answers. For instance, companies now require details such as the number of unique users participating in promotions, their existing customer status, and their retention rates post-promotion.

Focus on Enterprise Solutions and Data Integration

The core of Apptopia’s business now centers on delivering these detailed responses to enterprise subscribers. This includes potentially integrating data from competitors like Sensor Tower and App Annie to create a more holistic view of the competitive landscape.

Improving Data Accuracy

Apptopia CEO Jonathan Kay acknowledges that the company’s data accuracy has been continuously improved over time. Historically, their data wasn’t always considered the most precise.

Leadership Transition

Jonathan Kay, formerly Apptopia’s COO, has assumed the role of CEO, while co-founder Eliran Sapir transitions to chairman of the board. This change marks a new phase of growth for the company.

Distinction from Competitors: Avoiding Mobile Panels

Apptopia’s competitors, such as Sensor Tower and App Annie, often utilize mobile panels – consumer apps like VPNs and ad blockers – to collect app usage data. Users may download these apps without fully understanding their data collection practices, leading to some controversy.

Industry Growth Continues Despite Concerns

Despite these concerns, this practice persists and hasn’t hindered the growth of companies like Sensor Tower, which secured $45 million in funding last year. Demand for app data remains strong, driving expansion and new service offerings.

A Strategic Decision to Prioritize Data Security

Apptopia deliberately chose not to rely on mobile panels for data collection. The company previously considered and ultimately abandoned this approach.

Leveraging First-Party Data from Developers

Instead, Apptopia accesses data directly from its app developer customers, which is already aggregated and anonymized from their Apple and Google Analytics accounts.

Initial Disadvantage and Subsequent Innovation

Initially, this approach placed Apptopia at a disadvantage, as competitors with mobile panel data had greater accuracy between 2016 and 2018. However, Apptopia made a strategic decision to avoid building a business vulnerable to potential shutdowns by Apple or Google.

Investment in Data Science and Algorithms

“We invested heavily in data science and algorithms,” explains Kay. “We developed methods to extract an equivalent or superior signal from the same data sets available to our competitors.”

Understanding App Store Ranking Signals

By analyzing “huge amounts of historical data,” Apptopia identified the key signals that influence an app’s ranking in app stores. While downloads are a factor, numerous analytical data points considered by Apple and Google contribute to ranking decisions.

Reverse Engineering for Competitive Advantage

“An app’s rank is essentially a compilation of analytical data points weighted by Apple and Google,” Kay clarifies. These include session numbers, user counts, and time spent within the app. Without mobile panels, Apptopia focused on refining its reverse engineering capabilities to achieve comparable results.

Profitable Growth and Expansion Opportunities

As Apptopia was already profitable, fundraising wasn’t a necessity. However, the company aims to accelerate its expansion into new markets, including beyond the mobile app space.

Expanding the Definition of “Apps”

Today, consumers interact with “apps” on various devices, including computers, smartwatches, and TVs. Businesses require a comprehensive view of “app” usage across all platforms.

Commitment to User Privacy

“We’ve developed a method to achieve this without relying on the practices of our competitors,” states Kay. “We will not employ apps to monitor individuals.”

[*Sensor Tower responded to Kay’s statements, stating: “We have never collected any personally identifying information (PII) on individual users, nor have we received any of the anonymous usage and engagement metrics our panel provides without user consent.”]

Future Plans and Potential Partnerships

Apptopia is currently not disclosing specific details about its future product roadmap but remains open to partnerships and acquisitions to support its growth objectives.

Increasing Data Accessibility

The company is also focused on making its app data more accessible. Last year, it partnered with Bloomberg to provide mobile data to investors through the Bloomberg App Portal. Collaborations with Amazon’s AWS Data Exchange and Snowflake further expand data access options.

Financial Performance and Valuation

Apptopia has not revealed its current revenue run rate or valuation but confirms a tripling of its valuation since its last funding round in late 2019.

Team Expansion

The funds will be used to expand Apptopia’s team from 55 to 80 in 2021, with hires planned for engineering, data analysis, and management positions, including a CFO, CPO, and CMO.

To date, Apptopia has raised a total of $30 million in outside capital.