Factual Inc. Funding Climbs to $104 Million

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Century City-based geolocation data provider Factual Inc. announced Sept. 5 it raised $42 million in a financing round featuring participation from Upfront Ventures and Felicis Ventures.

Factual sells customer location data to firms looking to specify targeted advertising and said it will use the funds to develop its overseas presence in the Asia-Pacific region, which it reports is its fastest-growing market. A new company presence in Singapore is being established to lead Factual’s Asia-Pacific market and will be overseen by new hire Chris Pattinson, formerly an executive at Oracle Corp.

In the past year, Factual reports it has grown to over 200 employees and seen revenue grow 50 percent. According to Factual, its need for an Asia-Pacific foothold was cemented by sales in that region tripling within the last eight months over the previous year.

“Advancements in mobile technology distribution, network coverage and emerging economic opportunities leave no doubt that the APAC market is primed for the innovations that a neutral data solution like Factual’s will enable,” Pattinson said.

Uber Technologies Inc., Snap Inc., Apple Inc. and the BMW Group Inc. are all reported users of Factual data. The company estimates its location data services have been provided to more than 6,000 brands worldwide since its inception in 2007.

“Ten years ago, we made a bet that businesses would require accessible location data to grow and innovate, but that for most of those companies, high-quality location data would be out of reach,” said Factual chief executive Gil Elbaz said in a statement. “We are just at the beginning of this new data economy, and companies all over the world are relying on Factual, and his injection of funds will help expand our reach and meet the increasing global demand for our data services.”

Tech reporter Samson Amore can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 556-8335. Follow him on Twitter @samsonamore.