Funds for Tracker of 'Internet's Silent Majority'

GlobalRoam's subsidiary GNum Pte Ltd has acquired a 'significant minority stake' in aSpecial, which was set up by three former execs of Singapore Press Holdings and is backed by a number of prominent local entrepreneurs and angel investors.

Big data analytics company aSpecial Media analyzes content viewing via phones, tablets, laptops and desktops, in real-time, building Interest Profiles - 29m to date - which the firm say perform better than demographics in predicting future activity. aSpecial, which has around 300 enterprise customers, says a 'silent majority' of Internet users frequently scan it for news and information but may not actively post comments on social media or blogs, unlike the vocal minority of Tweeters or Facebook users. The former group do more to shape buying patterns but their views and activity are often missed by social media analytics services.

The GNum business was spun off by GlobalRoam last year and offers a patent-pending personalized URL calling solution allowing users to receive international toll-free calls 'anytime, anywhere'. GNum Analytics will combine this IP telephony service with aSpecial Media's analytics applications. aSpecial will use the investment to accelerate plans to become Asia's largest database of real-time behavioural targeting data.

GNum CEO Alexandre Yokoyama comments: 'GNum will soon integrate aSpecial's capability to decipher consumer patterns from the way people get informed and read about a specific product or service, which can improve and enrich the relationship of SMEs with their customers. GNum aims to deliver a global toll-free service enhanced with analytics data in a unique and user-friendly product'. Chris Yeo, his opposite number at aSpecial, says the deal will allow both companies to grow their regional presence rapidly, adding: 'aSpecial Media will be able to tap on the existing relationships that GlobalRoam and GNum have with regional telcos which will accelerate our plan to boost the number of consumer profiles to 100 million in the next three years'.

Web sites: www.globalroam.com , www.gnum.com and www.aspecialmedia.com .