TORONTO, Feb. 21, 2025 /CNW/ - Surf, an all-in-one data and rewards platform is excited to announce that it has been acquired by Datacy, a leading consumer insights platform.
Further information on the deal's key points and background on the companies can be found below.
KEY POINT 1:
Datacy is acquiring Surf's browser extension that rewards consumers for sharing their anonymized browsing insights. Along with that, Datacy will also acquire Surf's web data customers, Surf's existing user base and past user accounts, and any marketing assets Surf utilized to promote its extension (social media handles, website, etc).
As part of the transaction, Surf's co-founders Swish Goswami & Aanikh Kler will be retained as advisors to provide strategic guidance on product development and user marketing.
The financial terms of the deal, which fully closed on August 22, were not disclosed. Goswami has mentioned that Surf's sweepstakes platform and any customer contracts related to it are not part of this transaction. More details on the future of that product line will be shared in the following weeks.
The union of the two platforms positions Datacy well to become a leader in the first- and zero-party data space that is only becoming more important as the world becomes more privacy conscious.
KEY POINT 2:
Surf, previously called Trufan, has been around for just over 6 years. The company started back in 2019, initially providing large companies analytics on their Instagram and Twitter audience. In 2019, Surf acquired SocialRank and in 2020, Surf acquired Playr.gg (marking its first foray into the first party data space). Surf launched its browser extension in 2021 after seeing a void in the first party landscape. The browser extension Surf built from scratch transparently informs users on what data they are sharing, gives users the ability to manage what data they do and don't want to share, and compensates users with points that they can redeem for discounts, gift cards and giveaway entries.
Surf is backed by several investors including Moneta Ventures, Round13 Capital, and the founders of Cameo, Dapper Labs, Hootsuite, Shaw Communications, Clearco and DraftKings.
KEY POINT 3:
Datacy is a venture-backed decision intelligence platform revolutionizing consumer insights by answering the "why" behind consumers' online shopping decisions while empowering consumers to control and monetize their data. Backed by leading investors, advisors, and industry executives, Datacy is redefining the category by shifting from claimed insights - what people say through surveys - to observe behavioral data - what consumers do online.
Quotes from Surf & Datacy
"We built our extension, rewards marketplace and community during the pandemic and it was truly a labor of love. Much like Surf, the team at Datacy believes in a future where consumers are given more autonomy over what they do with their data. Aanikh and I cannot wait to help them become the gold standard for compliant and ethical data collection." - Swish Goswami, CEO & Co-Founder of Surf
"We acquired Surf to leverage the years of learnings the Swish and Aanikh accumulated and to accelerate our iteration cycles. Building this product and user community is no small feat—it is a hard problem to solve in a challenging market with giant incumbents. By integrating Swish and Aanikh's learnings, we aim to bypass some of the early hurdles and move forward faster." - Paroma Indilo, CEO & Co-Founder of Datacy
SOURCE Surf
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