AdNear, which provides location intelligence data to brands and advertisers, has raised $19 million in Series B funding from Telstra Ventures and Global Brain, with participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital and Canaan Partners. The Singapore-headquartered company didn’t provide much insight into how the funds will be used, though AdNear CEO Anil Mathews did hint at the possibility of launching new products in the coming months. AdNear had raised $6.3 million (about Rs 35 crore) in its Series A round of funding from Sequoia Capital and Canaan Partners, in November 2012. The company had said that the funds would be used to expand its operations across the Asia-Pacific region and adding more members to its team. Rediff.com had acquired a minority stake in AdNear (then known as Imere Technologies) back in November 2009, which it later sold for $1.14 million in May 2013. AdNear’s advertising platform utilizes real-time geo-location data, which negates the need for GPS or network operator assistance for location awareness, and is compatible for delivering ads to both smartphones and feature phones. AdNear also provides advertisers with user behaviour data to help them reach the relevant audience. The company claims to have reached over 530 million devices till date, and claims to be adding about 1.2 million new anonymous device users to its database everyday. Some of the clients AdNear works with, include P&G, Woolworths, Audi, Unilever, BMW, Adidas, Ford, Samsung, and IKEA among others. Other location-based ad solutions SVG Media’s display ad network, Velocity had introduced…
