Owler is an American Internet company headquartered in
San Mateo, California. It
crowdsources competitive insights
by providing news alerts, company profiles, and polls and allows members to follow, track, and research companies in real time. The company was founded in 2011 and has over 3.5 million active users.
In June 2021, Owler agreed to be acquired by
Meltwater.
History
InfoArmy was founded in 2011 by Jim Fowler, Rajan Madhavan, and Tim Harsch. Fowler previously founded
Jigsaw (now called
Data.com), another crowdsourcing
Data as a Service
In computing, data as a service, or DaaS, is a term used to describe cloud-based software tools used for working with data, such as managing data in a data warehouse or analyzing data with business intelligence. It is enabled by software as a se ...
platform that was sold for 175M to
Salesforce Inc. in 2010.
InfoArmy launched publicly in June 2012, and had 28 employees as of October 23, 2012.
InfoArmy began as a
crowdsourcing model where two-person research teams would compile one report on each company. Most researchers were stay-at-home parents,
freelance workers, and international
BPO workers. Access to InfoArmy's reports cost $99 for a year-long subscription and three quarterly reports.
In January 2013, InfoArmy announced that its business model would not be sustainable in the long term.
On February 1, 2013, InfoArmy relaunched as Owler, Inc. using a different business model. Owler offers a free mobile and online platform for company information and interactive business news. Members can choose to "follow" a set of companies, and Owler provides a personalized
newsfeed
In computing, a news aggregator, also termed a feed aggregator, feed reader, news reader, RSS reader or simply an aggregator, is client software or a web application that aggregates syndicated web content such as online newspapers, blogs, po ...
and daily email summary of the latest news on those companies. Owler members can also sign up to receive immediate notifications when major business events (such as
funding
Funding is the act of providing resources to finance a need, program, or project. While this is usually in the form of money, it can also take the form of effort or time from an organization or company. Generally, this word is used when a firm use ...
,
acquisitions, or leadership changes) occur. The
competitive intelligence
Competitive intelligence (CI) is the process and forward-looking practices used in producing knowledge about the competitive environment to improve organizational performance. It involves the systematic collection and analysis of information from ...
featured on Owler comes from two primary places: it is both hand-curated by Owler employees from sources across the web, and crowdsourced from Owler users. Unlike other
business information
Business intelligence (BI) comprises the strategies and technologies used by enterprises for the data analysis and management of business information. Common functions of business intelligence technologies include reporting, online analytical p ...
services, Owler polls its members to gauge market sentiment and current trends.
On June 18, 2021 Owler entered into an agreement to be acquired by
software as a service
Software as a service (SaaS ) is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. SaaS is also known as "on-demand software" and Web-based/Web-hosted software.
SaaS is con ...
company, Meltwater, for $18.9 million in cash and $5.6 million in Meltwater equity.
Funding
Owler is backed by
Norwest Venture Partners
Norwest Venture Partners (Norwest) is an American venture and growth equity investment firm. The firm targets early to late-stage venture and growth equity investments across several sectors, including cloud computing and information technology, ...
and Trinity Ventures, two venture capital firms based in
Silicon Valley, California
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Cou ...
. On Oct. 23, 2012, the company raised $17.3 million in Series B venture capital, bringing its funding to $19.3 million. Owler has raised a total of $30.8 millionin funding over four rounds.
As part of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, the company received between $350,000 and $1 million in federally backed small business loan from
Silicon Valley Bank
Silicon Valley Bank is an American commercial bank. SVB is on the list of largest banks in the United States, and is the biggest bank in Silicon Valley based on local deposits. It is a subsidiary of SVB Financial Group.
History
Silicon Valley Ba ...
as part of the
Paycheck Protection Program
The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is a $953-billion business loan program established by the United States federal government during the Donald Trump administration in 2020 through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARE ...
. The company stated it would allow them to retain zero jobs.
Products and technology
Owler offers a number of different services, including two email products as well as a browser-based web platform.
Web platform
Members can view their personalized newsfeed on the browser-based platform, which can be accessed via computer or smartphone. They can also view company profiles, edit profile information, and take polls through the web platform.
The web version also gives members access to lists that contain data about major events, such as funding rounds or acquisitions.
Daily Snapshot
Owler's Daily Snapshot provides users with the latest news events in their industry. Owler curates the most relevant news and blog posts from within the last 24 hours, surfacing stories on that member's company, competitors, and prospects. Each Daily Snapshot is personalized to a user's Competitive Graph and based on the companies that user follows.
Instant Insights
Owler emails users an Instant Insight anytime one of fifteen trigger events occur, including funding, acquisition, or leadership change. Users follow competitors, customers, prospects, and vendors, and Owler instantly sends full report hot anytime breaking events occur. This email features: company description, competitive landscape, and what people are saying.
Competitive Graph
Owler's Competitive Graph maps the relationship between companies. It was created by Owler's 3.5+ million members who regularly update their competitors (as well as provide estimates on critical data fields like revenue/employee numbers, CEO ratings, etc.). The Competitive Graph maps how closely companies compete with one another, allowing Owler to rank competitors. The Competitive Graph powers all of Owler's products, allowing the company to provide highly personalized email alerts and feeds.
Leadership
Leadership team
* Tim Harsch, CEO and co-founder
* James F. Fowler, founder and executive chairman
* Stephanie Vinella, CFO
* Dhruv Gupta, Director of Product
* Wayne Fenton, Director of Engineering
* Gretchen Vagharshakian, Director of Marketing
Board of directors
* James F. Fowler, founder and chairman of the board
* Tim Harsch, founder and CEO
* Jeff Crowe (
Norwest Venture Partners
Norwest Venture Partners (Norwest) is an American venture and growth equity investment firm. The firm targets early to late-stage venture and growth equity investments across several sectors, including cloud computing and information technology, ...
)
* Patrick Spain (
Newser
Newser is an American news aggregation website. It was founded in 2007 by journalist/media pundit Michael Wolff and businessman Patrick Spain, the former CEO of HighBeam Research and Hoover's.
Newser's president and editor-in-chief is Kate Sea ...
,
First Stop Health)
References
External links
* {{Official, https://www.owler.com
Owler BlogOwler- Bloomberg
2021 mergers and acquisitions
Crowdsourcing
Social information processing
Startup databases