Company that uses GPS to track smartphone users for luxury brand ads gets 45mln investment for expansion
A Polish firm which uses high-tech location tracking to help A-list high street clients identify shoppers’ tastes and interests is set for expansion following a 45 million PLN investment.
Cosmose, whose headquarters are in Warsaw and have offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai and New York, uses its information to tailor online adverts based on products that shoppers were interested in but didn’t buy.
Cosmose’s clients include luxury brands L’Oreal, Gucci, Cartier, LVMH, Bulgari, Fendi and Mercedes-Benz, to name but a few.
Started in 2014 by Miron Mironiuk, 29, from Wrocław, clients include luxury brands L’Oreal, Gucci, Cartier, LVMH, Bulgari, Fendi and Mercedes-Benz
The company uses GPS to track users’ locations and data collected from other applications, so users don’t need to install an app to receive the tailored advertising.
Cosmose was started in 2014 by Miron Mironiuk, 29, from Wrocław.
Mironiuk told Sifted: “If you are focusing on AI (artificial intelligence), then you need data and in China there are 850m smartphones to provide data.
“People used to say that if you can make it in New York then you can make it anywhere, but now I think if you can make it in Shanghai then you can make it anywhere."
Cosmose plans to open a Paris office, which will enable it to better serve European luxury brands targeting Chinese travellers.
The company has now received 45 million PLN in seed funding to help with its expansion beyond the Chinese market.
Along with the new funding the company added two industry veterans to their board, Ohad Finkelstein and Raymond Zage.
Lubomira Rochet, Chief Digital Officer at L'Oréal said: “Employing location technology, Cosmose focuses on ‘Offline to online’ marketing, helping us understand how we can provide the right marketing message.”
The former CEO of Farallon Capital Asia, Zage is also a board member of Go-Jek and Toshiba, while Finkelstein is a board member of OneWeb and an advisor to the CEO of Walmart.
“Cosmose is one of the most intriguing companies I know, with a highly differentiated platform and an exceptional team. I was very excited to join the board and to help the company deliver on its visionary promise,” Finkelstein said.
Mironiuk says “if you can make it in Shanghai then you can make it anywhere.”
The company is planning on expanding into other territories with the help of their existing knowledge of Chinese consumers.
They plan to open a Paris office, which will enable it to better serve European luxury brands targeting Chinese travellers.
According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, spending from Chinese shoppers now makes up 21 percent of tourist spending worldwide.
Cosmose will use its 45 million PLN investment to expand into other countries.
Chinese travellers also spend more, on average, than tourists from any other country.
Mironiuk said: “In China we’ve seen great results from retailers using Cosmose and now we are setting our sights further afield as we take on this new investment.
“We will first enter the Japanese market and then move into the US and European markets more aggressively.”
