AlterGeo

AlterGeo, formerly known as Wi2Geo, is the developer of a global hybrid positioning system for electronic devices over Wi-Fi, WiMAX, GSM, LTE, IP addresses and a network environment.

History

2014

Over 400 million daily positioning requests

AlterGeo is a provider of geolocation services in Russia and the CIS for the needs of a wide range of enterprises, including hardware and software manufacturers, advertising networks, banks, etc. The hybrid positioning system created by the company over Wi-Fi, WiMAX, GSM, LTE, IP addresses and network environment (platform.altergeo.ru) allows you to accurately determine the location even without GPS and GLONASS, including in buildings and in a dense urban environment, where satellite signals are difficult to receive. As of December 2014, AlterGeo processes over 400 million positioning requests daily and records the location of more than 100 million unique devices. In addition to the B2B segment, the company operates on the consumer Internet market, owning the largest geosocial network AlterGeo (altergeo.ru) in Russia and the CIS and the service of personal recommendations for choosing restaurants Gvidi (gvidi.ru).

Owners

As of December 2014, the owners of AlterGeo were:

• Intel Capital - 12,5%;
• Almaz Capital Partners - 12,5%;
• "Dyson Esther."

2011

700 thousand users

As of June 2011, the service has 700,000 users. This is one of the largest participants in the Russian market Location Based Services (LBS, location-based services). According to Pyramid Research, the volume of this market in the world in 2010 amounted to $2.8 billion, and in 2015 it will reach $10.3 billion^[1].

Half of Altergeo's revenue comes from advertising partnerships, says its co-founder Denis Alaev. The rest of the company receives from licensing geo-positioning technology for other companies. Until 2010, its location technology by WiFi points and cellular base stations used Yandex"," but eventually made its own service. Every day, Altergeo determines the location of its users more than 100 million times, says Alaev. Altergeo's current partners are Livejournal,,. MTS Qiwi The company will become profitable in 2011, promises Alaev. Geolocation services already have,, Google"." FacebookVkontakte

Analogues and competitors

The closest foreign analogue to Altergeo is the service Foursquare.com. Sense Networks also uses a similar principle of collecting geosocial data.

The user who installed the Altergeo mobile application can use it to determine their location. In response, the service will show nearby restaurants, cafes, theaters, which in the future may offer him discounts for visiting.

By choosing a place you want to visit, the user can invite friends there. To do this, you need to mark your location in the application, and friends will receive a message about it.

The location of users and the ability to be noted in cafes, restaurants, cinemas gives advertisers, especially from small and medium-sized businesses, a unique opportunity to "reach" ordinary people.

Investments up to $10 million from Intel Capital and Almaz Capital Partners

On June 8, 2011, it became known that the funds of Intel Capital and Almaz Capital Partners Alexander Galitsky invested up to $10 million in the Russian analogue of Foursquare.com - a Altergeo.ru that can determine the location of the user. According to a source in one of the funds, we are talking about several million dollars. Up to $10 million, says another manager close to the participants in the transaction, most of it was invested by Intel Capital and Almaz Capital. Together, new investors received a little more than 25% of Altergeo shares (, and the entire company is valued at $20-25 million.

Esther Dyson, a well-known venture capital investor, founder of EDventure Holdings, invested in Flickr and del.icio.us services, as well as Yandex, IBS Group and ECS Group, has a small share. Investors bought out an additional issue of Altergeo shares, said the manager of one of the funds, and the money will go to attract a new audience and develop new services.

Almaz Capital Managing Partner Alexander Galitsky confirmed the transaction. The geo-positioning market is promising, and the Altergeo team is able to go further than simply copying the Western project, he told Vedomosti. On the Altergeo platform, you can build many interesting services related to trade discounts and various forms of user communication, he is sure.

2008: Raising about $50,000 from the Addventure Fund

In 2008, Altergeo received about $50,000 from the Addventure seed investment fund, and in 2009 - about $1 million from the Kite Ventures investment fund.

Notes