A real-world analytics platform that uses offline insights to improve digital marketing for the drinks trade has secured $2 million of seed investment.
The funding into London-based Olvin was led by Brainchild Ventures, a new venture capital fund, and Novator Partners chairman Thor Bjorgolfsson.
The news comes as the company announces the leading industry figures on its board of advisors. Bjorgolfsson takes a seat alongside Founders Factory’s Brent Hoberman – co-founder of lastminute.com and MADE.com – Alexander de Carvalho of PUBLIC and Guy Wollaert, formerly of Coca Cola.
Olvin’s free-to-use platform analyses location, demographic and behavioural data to give drinks venues and brands a clear view of what’s happening in the real world.
This data drives the platform’s venue analytics and behaviour-led consumer insights, which are driven by machine learning technology.
Businesses can then use these insights to create specific custom audiences that can be targeted through digital marketing platforms.
“We’ve seen how web analytics platforms can provide a tangible boost to digital-led businesses, but that’s not much help to an industry that exists almost entirely in the real world,” said founder and CEO Sam Amrani.
“That’s why we created a product that would map out the physical world in the same way that products like Google Analytics have done with tremendous success in the online space.”
The company is looking to replicate the successes that industries such as retail, finance and manufacturing have had with machine learning.
“The drinks trade is an incredibly fragmented industry, which is why Olvin’s behaviour-led data is so important for brands to connect directly to their consumers” said Amrani.
“The platform also enables small businesses with modest marketing budgets to reach the audiences that matter most to them, without having to spend the earth.”
The Olvin platform is completely free to use, while customers can purchase custom audience segments starting from as little as £5.