ASX-listed Appen acquires Singapore-based mobile-location data firm

ASX-listed Appen, which provides training data for organizations that build AI systems at scale, announced it has acquired Singapore-based Quadrant, a mobile-location data company, for an upfront cash payment of US$25 million.

The Appen team / Photo credit: Appen

The deal also provides for an additional payment of up to US$20 million in Appen shares, which will be issued when the firm hits specific revenue milestones in 2022 and 2023.

“The acquisition of Quadrant enables Appen to increase our addressable market and to expand our product and service offering to our customers to include more mobile-location and POI (point of interest) data capabilities,” said Mark Brayan, CEO of Appen.

By tapping into Appen’s user base, Quadrant’s Geolancer product, which can deliver accurate, up-to-date, and manually verifiable POI data, will be scaled up.

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Appen provides its service to clients in the technology, automotive, financial services, retail, and healthcare industries, among others. It works with over a million skilled contractors who can speak over 235 languages.

Founded in 2014, Quadrant provides data compliance services that enable enterprise customers to perform location analytics and derive location-based intelligence. Its data collection application includes a blockchain-enabled data privacy consent management platform that tracks consent to use, store, manage, and share data.