The acquisition of global mobile app intelligence company data.ai furthers Sensor Tower’s goal of measuring the world’s digital economy
SAN FRANCISCO, CA–Sensor Tower, a leading provider of data on the digital economy, with offices in Canada, has acquired market intelligence platform data.ai for an undisclosed amount. This acquisition will allow Sensor Tower to further broaden and create an industry standard solution in marketing intelligence.
The acquisition of data.ai is a significant evolution for Sensor Tower as it represents an expansion of its customer base to include major brands such as Microsoft, Sky and Bandai Namco which already use data.ai’s mobile app intelligence tools. This is a strategic move for Sensor Tower, which is already a go-to provider for top brands, agencies, gaming publishers and investors, to significantly expand its APAC presence and work with additional Fortune 500 companies. It is expected that the combination of Sensor Tower and data.ai will unlock significant gains in data accuracy, global coverage, and breadth of product offerings to its combined 2,000+ enterprise customers.
“Today we celebrate the beginning of a new and exciting chapter, not only for Sensor Tower, but for the digital marketing and mobile app intelligence industry,” said Oliver Yeh, CEO of Sensor Tower. “We have long admired data.ai’s stellar product and high quality team. The acquisition will allow Sensor Tower to broaden its audience and expand its best in class offerings to any company that participates in the digital economy – helping bridge the gap between companies and consumers.”
This announcement comes at a moment when consumers are spending an increasing amount of time socializing, playing, watching, and shopping across many digital channels. In 2023 consumers spent $130 billion globally on in-app purchases; trends only expected to increase within the digital economy as major platforms such as Google, Meta, TikTok, Instagram, and Snap invest heavily in user acquisition, retention, and monetization.
Sensor Tower’s acquisition of data.ai follows its rapid growth and its successful acquisition of Pathmatics in 2021, which expanded its buyer personas and customer base by providing increased visibility into brand activity and advertising spend in the broader digital landscape. Sensor Tower’s digital intelligence suite is powered by unique and differentiated first-party panel data, with insights delivered to customers on an annual subscription model.
“Since 2010, data.ai has helped some of the finest brands and publishers globally to optimize their mobile performance,” said Ted Krantz, CEO at data.ai. “This evolution offers the best path to innovation, more insights across more channels, and ultimately, more value derived by clients.”
Beyond the platform infrastructure and customer integration, Sensor Tower’s leadership team will stay intact and manage the combined company. Yeh said, “As we unite Sensor Tower and data.ai, we are eager to incorporate new team members. This merger also necessitates optimizing our team structure. We are committed to providing assistance and resources to our departing colleagues during this transition.”
“We were excited to invest behind Oliver and the team in 2020 and continue to be impressed by Sensor Tower as they shape the future of how intelligence solutions can be used to make strategic decisions,” said Jeff Parks, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Riverwood Capital and member of Sensor Tower’s Board of Directors. “We believe the combined company is now the gold standard for how data can deliver value to customers seeking to better understand and participate in the digital economy.”
“The trend of companies actively pursuing a holistic understanding of a consumer’s digital footprint has been a vision we have shared with the Sensor Tower team since day one,” said Ramesh Venugopal, Partner at Riverwood Capital and member of Sensor Tower’s Board of Directors. “It has been incredible to see this pattern continue to emerge as more companies embrace a sophisticated multi-channel market intelligence approach.”
Bain Capital Credit led the financing for the transaction with follow-on from Riverwood Capital and a new investment from Paramark Ventures.
“This merger isn’t just about scaling Sensor Tower’s global presence – it’s about amplifying the impact on the entire marketing industry’s ability to measure the digital economy, which the combination of these two entities now have made possible through deeper insights and improved product experience. We’re especially thrilled to support the team as they delve deeper into the dynamic APAC market, where the digital economy is booming,” said Chunsoo Kim, Managing Partner at Paramark Ventures, a Seoul-based venture capital firm specializing in cross-border investments.
“Riverwood and the Sensor Tower team have built an excellent business with unique technology, and we’re thrilled to be partnering with them to support the acquisition and the company’s next phase of growth,” said David Healey, Director at Bain Capital Credit.
William Blair & Company, LLC acted as financial advisor and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP provided legal counsel to Sensor Tower in this transaction. Stifel acted as financial advisor and Wilson Sonsini served as legal counsel for data.ai.
Sensor Tower is the leading provider of data on the digital economy. Founded in 2013 and based in San Francisco, CA, Sensor Tower provides enterprise-level data on mobile apps and publishers through our Store Intelligence, Ad Intelligence, Usage Intelligence, and App Intelligence platforms, which offer download, revenue, share of voice, and engagement metrics at unparalleled accuracy for the world’s most important markets. Through its Pathmatics digital marketing intelligence offering Sensor Tower brings visibility into the digital advertising performance of brands, their competitors and entire industries across display, social, video, mobile, native and OTT advertising.
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