Using big data to monetize free Wi-Fi
With its recent announcement of a $5 million investment, United Kingdom-based Purple Wi-Fi is poised to expand its workforce and international heterogeneous network presence.
Purple provides software designed to enable a user to log in to a public Wi-Fi hot spot using a social media account like Facebook. The benefit to a retailer or hotel operating the hot spot comes in the form of data analytics that are filtered through a built-in marketing platform.
Terry Leahy, the former CEO of Tesco, led the investment drive and was concurrently given a seat on Purple’s board of directors.
In a prepared statement, Leahy said this type of marketing analytics “has and will continue to revolutionize the industry. Purple Wi-Fi is a brilliant example of how additional value can be driven from an existing infrastructure.”
The social media-based authentication platform covers Facebook, Twitter, Google, Instagram, Weibo and VKontakte.
Along with country-specific partnerships, Purple already has distribution agreements in place with Ingram Micro and Westcon Comstor. Purple plans to use the investment capital to accelerate product development and conduct staff recruitment; the plan is to aggressively move into Asia-Pacific, the Americas and Middle East markets.
Purple Wi-Fi CEO Gavin Wheeldon said that modern consumers expect free Wi-Fi access.
“But the big question in recent years has been how to monetize Wi-Fi,” Wheeldon said. “We have seen unimaginable interest and demand for the product, not just within the obvious sectors of retail, leisure and hospitality, but also unexpected sectors such as social housing, education and health care, where they want to use Wi-Fi to communicate better and deliver services.”
Ernst and Young handled the investment round.
