Appen to Acquire Quadrant, Opening the Door to Crypto for 1M+ Users
Appen Limited, the leading provider of high-quality training data for organizations that build effective AI systems at scale, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Quadrant, a global leader in mobile location data, Point-of-Interest data, and corresponding compliance services. With the acquisition, Quadrant’s Geolancer product gains access to 1M+ users.
Quadrant leverages blockchain technology across all of its services. Its newest product, Geolancer, is a location data platform that leverages a global crowd of Geolancers to collect and verify data in the physical world (such as POI and location metadata). These data are sought after by leading mapping companies, delivery and courier services, ridesharing applications, e-commerce sites, and more. Users — Geolancers — are then rewarded with EQUAD cryptocurrency for the data they record.
Geolancer has conducted multiple campaigns since May, where users recorded 180,000+ POI data points in seven countries across Southeast Asia.With the acquisition, Geolancer will be rolled out in phases over the next few months to Appen’s more than 1 million contractors in over 170 countries, experienced in recording and annotating data.
Appen is the global leader in the development of high-quality, human annotated datasets for machine learning and artificial intelligence. Headquartered in Sydney and publicly listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, it has over 1,000 employees in nine offices globally. Its clients include the world’s leading technology companies.
“The acquisition means Geolancer will become the definitive POI platform in the data industry, and potentially one of the most widely used blockchain projects in the world with access to over 1M users”, said Mike Davie, CEO of Quadrant. “Getting this many new people on board represents a huge opportunity for the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry on the road to becoming a mainstream phenomenon.”
About Appen Limited
Appen collects and labels images, text, speech, audio, and video used to build and continuously improve the world’s most innovative artificial intelligence systems. With expertise in more than 235 languages, a global crowd of over 1 million skilled contractors, and the industry’s most advanced AI-assisted data annotation platform, Appen solutions provide the quality, security, and speed required by leaders in technology, automotive, financial services, retail, manufacturing, and governments worldwide. Founded in 1996, Appen has customers and offices around the world.
About Quadrant
Quadrant provides location data and location-based business solutions that are fit for purpose, easy to use, and simple to organise. Quadrant’s proprietary Geolancer platform provides authentic, accurate, and up-to-date Point-of-Interest data, manually verified on the ground. For mobile location data, the company has over 450 million unique devices seen per month which helps companies understand patterns of movement in the real-world. Quadrant also offers a blockchain-based Consent Management Platform for app developers and publishers who seek GDPR and CCPA compliance.
