Data Firm Swash Ramps Up with New Execs and Funding

Personal data management specialist Swash has hired Arbitron Mobile founder Hannu Verkasalo and research analyst Seth Ulinski to build the business and connect it with their networks of market research contacts. The firm has also raised $19m in an oversubscribed round of funding.

Consumers can use Swash's tools and services to earn incentives for sharing their data, while businesses can access this zero-party data, and developers can use it to set up and build systems within a collaborative development framework. The company has a live product and active user base of around 220,000 individuals.

New funding has been led by a number of crypto investors and angels, and is being used to launch a 'token' called SWASH, which facilitates commercial transactions and overall business in the Swash ecosystem - rewarding users for the aggregated value of their data, and enabling them to use those rewards for redeeming products and making charitable donations.

Verkasalo (pictured) is the founder of Finnish mobile measurement firm Zokem, which he later sold to Arbitron (itself acquired by Nielsen a couple of years later). More recently, he was CEO of behavioral and MR platform Verto Analytics, and during his career he has invested in more than twenty different ME ventures. At Swash, he will provide business strategy, data monetization, and panel operation tactical support. Ulinski has run his own AdTech advisory business for nearly a decade, before which he was a Senior Analyst at Technology Business Research, and he worked for customer analytics firm dataxu, and ad network and semantic solutions provider ad pepper media.

Swash co-founder Reza Naeeni comments: 'We have had an exciting few years building the much-needed technical foundation for Swash. Now, as we are entering the commercialization phase with our panel, data, and all the available solutions targeted for the market research industry, we are pleased to welcome Hannu and Seth to the team. There is no doubt that their exceptional expertise and experience in market research, specifically in the US, along with deep industry connections and credibility, will help us to grow Swash and to achieve our business targets'.

Web site: www.swashapp.io .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.