Hot Location data sector15 Feb 2018 19:30
Telia invests in Norwegian location data services provider Unacast
Thursday 15 February 2018 | 12:50 CET | News
Telia Company said it is investing in Norwegian start-up company Unacast, which provides contextualised location data. Together, they will offer advanced data services in the Nordic and Baltic regions. Unacast was co-founded three years ago by CEO Thomas Walle and COO Kjartan Slette, who were part of the team that started Tidal before Beyonce Knowles' husband, rapper Jay Z, bought the music streaming service in 2015.
Telia said Unacast uses data to enable companies in various sectors to understand human activity in the "real" world, while maintaining user privacy.
In 2017, Telia launched Crowd Insights to enable data-driven improvements to services such as buses, or for event organisers to find out where customers travel from, so they can improve transport connections and even venue choices. Crowd Insights uses aggregated and anonymised mobile network data.
Through their partnership, Telia can combine Unacast's insights into the connections between people and places with Telia's insights into outdoor behaviour. For retailers this can mean smarter store locations and layout, more relevant advertising and even tailored opening hours. It could lead to better town planning such as pedestrian-only streets, bicycle lanes, public toilet provision, parks, lighting and other services.