Sense Networks
A technologically advanced online marketing platform.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
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| - | investor investor | €0.0 | round |
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| investor | €0.0 | round | |
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| Total Funding | 000k | ||
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Sense Networks, established in 2006, operated in the mobile advertising technology sector, leveraging location data to provide predictive analytics for advertisers. The company was founded by a team of computer scientists, including Greg Skibiski, Dr. Tony Jebara from Columbia University, and Dr. Alex 'Sandy' Pentland from MIT, who brought deep expertise in machine learning and data science to the venture. Skibiski, with a background in mathematics and finance, conceived the initial idea, while Jebara and Pentland provided the academic and technical prowess to analyze large-scale datasets, a field they termed "computational social science".
The firm's core business centered on its technology platform, which processed real-time, streaming location data from mobile devices. By analyzing this incoming data against a massive historical dataset, Sense Networks constructed detailed user profiles based on behavior and movement patterns. This allowed them to offer advertisers highly specific audience segments for targeted campaigns, moving beyond simple geographic targeting to predict consumer intent and behavior. Their primary product, Macrosense, provided these predictive targeting capabilities, enabling advertisers to reach audiences based on inferred lifestyles and interests, such as "nightlife enthusiasts" or "fast-food lovers".
Sense Networks generated revenue by selling these targeted advertising services and data analytics to brands and advertising agencies. The business model was predicated on the value of the rich, anonymized user profiles—over 150 million at one point—which it licensed for use in mobile ad campaigns. The company secured funding from notable investors including Intel Capital and Javelin Venture Partners. In a significant milestone that validated its technological approach, Sense Networks was acquired by YP Holdings (the publisher of YP.com and the YP mobile app) in 2014, integrating its location analytics capabilities into YP's broader digital marketing and advertising platform.
Keywords: mobile advertising, location data, predictive analytics, data science, adtech, user profiling, machine learning, behavioral targeting, computational social science, data monetization