Placer.ai Raises $4M to Bring Unprecedented Visibility into Consumer Behavior and Foot Traffic in the Physical World

Placer.ai launches the first free online tool providing anyone instant access to deep consumer insights for any physical location, driving smarter decision-making

October 24, 2018 – Los Altos, CA - Placer.ai, the world’s most advanced foot traffic analytics platform, today announced $4M in funding and the launch of a free online tool allowing anyone in the retail industry to get insights into any physical place. Now, anyone can make data-driven decisions with access to precise human movement analytics and a deeper understanding of audiences and competition. By harnessing mobile data from tens of millions of devices, Placer.ai applies the latest in AI, machine learning, and big data analytics to generate accurate insights and behavioral predictions for any location, store, or geographic area. The new Placer.ai analytics dashboard equips the brick and mortar industry with tools previously only available in the digital world. To test drive the free analytics platform, register here.

Placer.ai is backed by more than 40 successful investors including Array Ventures, IrishAngels Ventures, and Stage Venture Partners, as well as renowned angel investors such as Ran Makavy of Lyft, and Craig Abrahams of Playtika .

In stealth development since 2016, Placer.ai has been diligently working to perfect foot traffic data collection, modeling, and application to solve real-world business challenges. Current customers include Caesars Entertainment, Oath, MScience, CBRE, Bain & Company, and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

Placer.ai now allows anyone access to valuable foot traffic data to reveal:

Visitation Trends: Learn how many visitors by hour, day, and month
Competitive Data: Benchmark foot traffic, market share, audiences, and other key metrics
Customer Journey: Know where customers are coming from and going to
Audience Insights: Identify customer demographics, interests, and intent
True Trade Area: Discover the most important areas driving revenue
Churn Activity: Track customer churn and understand evolving consumer behavior
Special Event Impact: Understand how large events affect business activity

“We’re cracking open the ability for everyone in the retail industry to deeply understand retail consumers,” said Placer.ai CEO and Co-Founder Noam Ben-Zvi. “The online world enjoys a significant advantage when making critical decisions given existing tools that provide precise visibility into consumers’ actions. For the first time, Placer.ai offers that same level of accurate, dependable, and actionable information - now for the physical world.”

Placer.ai early adopter NewMark Merrill Companies, a leading shopping center owner and developer with over 75 centers, has leveraged Placer’s platform to shape leasing, marketing, and center optimization decisions for over 40 different portfolio shopping centers. According to NewMark Merrill President and CEO Sandy Sigal, “Placer.ai eliminates the witchcraft and over-reliance on intuition in our industry, replacing the guesswork with real answers. For the first time, we know where customers work, reside, and frequent with specificity. We benchmark the improvement and deterioration of our centers and tenants against competitors. And most importantly, we can now get a complete understanding of a center’s health and ultimate potential. It's an absolute game changer.”

Placer.ai launches at a transformational time in a challenging period for the retail industry. While many retailers are struggling, the economy continues to grow, consumer confidence is at an all time high, and physical in-store transactions account for over 90% of all sales. According to a KPMG report, “The customer experience is more important than ever as [physical] retailers are striving to differentiate themselves in a challenging and crowded market.” Access to the latest in AI, big data operations, and advanced analytics is key to navigating and growing in the new economy.

“Traditional retailers need to evolve or die for their businesses to compete head-to-head with online merchants,” said Array Ventures Managing Partner Shruti Gandhi. “Consumers still like going to physical events, shops, and restaurants, but retailers need to create more thoughtful experiences based on understanding their audience, which Placer.ai can provide. We at Array are very excited about the opportunity with Placer.”

About Placer.ai

Placer.ai is the world’s most advanced foot traffic analytics platform allowing anyone in the retail industry to instantly generate insights into any physical place for a deeper understanding of audiences and competition. Headquartered in Silicon Valley with development offices in Tel Aviv, Placer.ai enables its customers to make data-driven decisions based on precise human movement analytics. To learn more about Placer.ai and get access to the free analytics dashboard, visit: www.placer.ai