Viewsy bags top honours at CeBIT’s CODE_n

  • 10-man startup helping retailers optimise ROI wins 2014 CODE_n competition
  • Uses big data and statistical analysis to understand customer behavioural patterns

Viewsy bags top honours at CeBIT’s CODE_n A BRITISH startup emerged the winner in the 2014 CODE_n Startup of the Year competition, organised in conjunction with this year’s CeBIT trade fair in Hannover, Germany.
 
The London-based 10-man software house Viewsy edged out 50 other competitors from across 17 countries, and in the process took home €30,000 at a ceremony on March 12.
 
Established in 2011, the retail and customer analytics company touts itself as the ‘Google Analytics of the physical world.’ Viewsy claims its solution provides deep insights into the customer journey such as loyalty, engagement and ‘dwell time.’
 
Its founder and chief executive officer Odera Ume-Ezeoke (pic) said Viewsy’s technology captures data anonymously and passively, thereby helping retailers improve their return-on-investment by understanding and interpreting customer behaviour statistics.
 
Some of the questions that Viewsy can answer include: How much time do they [customers] spend on average in a store? Which areas do they frequent the most in the store? How frequently do they visit the store?
 
Viewsy's technology acquires a variety of different data sources, such as foot traffic, interprets them using statistical methods thereby seeking to understand the behavioural patterns of customers.
 
It claims that brand owners could benefit from the analytical data as well as being able to obtain exact insights into where to best position which products in the store.
 
Conclusions regarding the identity of individuals are purposefully excluded by Viewsy, the company said. The solution allows customers to opt out of the analysis, should they not want to participate, by switching off the WiFi connection on their phones, the company said.
 
Besides London, the startup has a presence in Amsterdam and boasts large clients including Vodafone, the Amsterdam Arena [the largest stadium in the Netherlands], and ABN Amro Bank.
 
“With Viewsy, we award a young company that impressively demonstrates how large data volumes can be safely, intelligently, and profitably used with a technologically mature solution,” Ulrich Dietz, the initiator of CODE_n and member of the jury comprising 10 judges, said in a statement.
 
Other notable finalists were Redwood City, California-based AutoGrid Systems, Berlin-based Sablono and Munich-based startup cosinuss°
 
A total of 450 applicants from 60 countries applied for this year’s competition. Fifty finalists were shortlisted, given a booth in the CODE_n hall and a chance to showcase their solutions to customers, buyers and potential investors at CeBIT 2014.
 
CODE_n presented solutions ranging from future-oriented analysis methods in areas such as mobility, health, financial services or commerce, to software solutions and big data-based platforms for the environmental and energy sectors.
 
Viewsy succeeds Berlin-based Changers.com and Rotterdam-based Greenclouds as last year’s co-winners. The inaugural competition in 2012 was won by Hamburg-based myTaxi.
 
CODE_n, short for ‘Code of the New,’ is an international initiative for digital pioneers, innovators and groundbreaking startups. Initiated in 2011 by GFT Technologies AG and working in conjunction with CeBIT, CODE_n was conceptualised with the goal of supporting outstanding business talents and their ideas, and to provide them with a platform to showcase their innovation.
 
Since 2012, more than 1,000 young companies have applied to enter the CODE_n competition, officials claims.
 
Besides Dietz, other judges included Klaas Bollhöfer of The Unbelievable Machine Company; Prof Dietmar Harhoff of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition; Bindi Karia of Silicon Valley Bank; and Jens-Uwe Sauer of Seedmatch.
 
Edwin Yapp reports from Hannover, Germany, at the invitation CeBIT organiser Deutsche Messe AG.
 
More from CeBIT 2014:
 
The world needs to unite on privacy and trust: EU official
 
CeBIT now targeting the business sweet spot
 
 
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