Placer.ai Secures $50 Million Series B Funding

The past year presented significant challenges for Placer.ai’s primary clientele in the retail and commercial real estate sectors. However, the foot traffic and location analytics startup experienced growth in emerging areas, notably with consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies and hedge funds utilizing its technology for due diligence purposes.

Funding Details

Based in Los Altos, California, Placer.ai announced today a successful $50 million Series B funding round. This round was spearheaded by Josh Buckley, CEO of Product Hunt, alongside Todd Goldberg and Rahul Vohra. Existing investors, including Fifth Wall, JBV Capital, and Aleph VC, also participated.

The newly acquired capital will be allocated to advancements in research and development, as well as the expansion of Placer.ai’s sales and marketing teams. The company’s previous funding announcement occurred in January 2020, a $12 million Series A round.

Data Collection and Applications

Placer.ai gathers geolocation and proximity data from user devices with data-sharing permissions enabled. This data is then processed to create anonymized and aggregated consumer profiles.

Initially, the company’s core customer base consisted of offline retail businesses, shopping centers, hotels, and other businesses with physical locations. These entities leverage Placer.ai to analyze foot traffic patterns, assess the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, and evaluate location performance.

Expansion into New Markets

Noam Ben-Zvi, co-founder and CEO of Placer.ai, anticipated challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift towards online shopping. Despite this, the adoption of Placer.ai’s technology increased among new segments, including CPG and hedge funds.

The company continues to expand its presence within the retail and commercial real estate industries as businesses proactively plan for the future.

CPG and Hedge Fund Use Cases

CPG clients utilize Placer.ai’s tools for comprehensive market analysis, refining category management and promotional strategies, and monitoring product performance. Ben-Zvi anticipates continued growth in this customer segment, particularly as more direct-to-consumer brands establish their own brick-and-mortar stores.

Hedge fund clients employ Placer.ai for investment research. “The near real-time, reliable, and granular nature of the data enables investors to rapidly identify indicators of a brand’s true offline health,” Ben-Zvi explained. “Furthermore, a qualitative data component allows for thorough analysis of strategic initiatives.”

He cited the example of CVS Health Hubs during their pilot phase. “When CVS announced a rollout to over a thousand locations, investors possessed a strong understanding of the potential,” he added. “The data’s capacity to support both quantitative and qualitative analysis at a sophisticated level is exceptionally powerful.”

Navigating a Turbulent Future

For retail and commercial real estate users, Ben-Zvi believes the future will be marked by volatility. He emphasized that data will be crucial for navigating this changing landscape and making informed decisions.

Commercial real estate owners must ensure their tenant mix is appealing to shoppers and understand their performance relative to competitors. Some retailers are pursuing expansion, while others are experimenting with new concepts and formats.

Investor Perspective

Josh Buckley, in a press statement, commented, “Placer empowers businesses operating in the physical world to make data-driven decisions, fundamentally transforming their operations. This mirrors the tooling that has fueled growth for online businesses, shifting reliance from intuition to concrete answers. I am enthusiastic about partnering with the company during its next phase of growth and product development.”

Note: The list of leading investors has been updated.