In late June, Malaysia-based UrbanMetry was selected for the Technology Pioneers list by the World Economic Forum (WEF). The list includes 100 companies that WEF has selected annually to work with society’s foremost political, business and cultural leaders to address issues facing people and the planet.

In an email interview with e27, Koh Cha Ly, Founder and CEO of UrbanMetry, explains what being selected means to the company.

“Being named one of the 100 Technology Pioneers by WEF validates our unwavering commitment to transforming urban environments through innovative technologies. This motivates and will drive us to continuously push boundaries and effect positive change, ultimately making cities smarter, more sustainable, and better for everyone involved,” she explains.

UrbanMetry is a data analytics company with data coverage in the Southeast Asia (SEA) region. It is dedicated to providing solutions to help businesses, cities and governments make informed decisions through a unique combination of spatial data and advanced analytics.

Apart from the award from WEF, the company has recently made several important milestones. According to Koh, it has been on a strong growth trajectory, doubling the team size last year while also growing in revenue size and stream.

“We have also expanded our data provision to Thailand and Vietnam in the past two years and are actively seeking opportunities to expand to the Middle East and Indonesia,” she says.

Also Read: Unleashing Singapore’s smart city potential: A gateway to limitless opportunities

Solving big city problems with UrbanMetry

When asked about the problem that UrbanMetry is working on, Koh begins by highlighting the role that data analytics plays in solving problems in a typical urban setting.

“Currently, a lot of work and technology solutions globally are placed on data analytics to solve city problems. However, most businesses, startups and key stakeholders do not realise that there is a huge gap in the data quality of cities in developed and developing countries,” she says.

“As most developing countries do not have the quality data required, digitisation, data-driven policies, asset risk mitigation and all other technological advantages available to cities become out of reach. UrbanMetry’s solution bridges this crucial data quality gap for cities in developing countries to unlock the potential for city data to build better cities.”

UrbanMetry approached the problem by seeking and collecting fragmented and polluted data available in the market, merging it with private databases and doing multi-layer cross-validation to build out proprietary city databases for the cities it tracks.

“The principle of solution builds on city building and urban planning policies to understand the population behaviours. Our solution builds on technological advancement including machine learning, big data and satellite imagery to solve these data gap issues we see in countries that need them most,” Koh elaborates.

The company targets key stakeholders of city building including real estate developers, banks, financial institutions, regulatory agencies and government bodies as their customers. It acquires these customers through knowledge engagement sessions and also through word of mouth.

Also Read: How data science and AI are fuelling smart city goals

As a city data company that offers data-as-a-service, the revenue model that UrbanMetry implements varies across different clients and products. But according to Koh, broadly, they are categorised by the quantity of data provided, project-specific data provisions and subscription of periodic data updates.

“We develop the revenue model in accordance to the needs and objectives of our clients that often differ across industries,” Koh stresses.

UrbanMetry has raised a Pre-Series A funding round with Monk’s Hill Ventures. Its earlier investors include 500 Global, 500 Southeast Asia, and Reapra.

In 2023, the company aims to pilot several B2C products that aim to leverage its city database to citizens in the city.

“The vision for these products is to help end customers utilise the database we have built to make better, safer and more sustainable decisions whilst investing in the city,” Koh says.

“Our newest solution UrbanVault aims to open up mortgage opportunities for the digital natives in a secure and modern manner while understanding the risks of buying a home. In the second half of 2023, we plan to roll out other B2C products to realise the full potential of our city databases in Southeast Asia,” she closes.

—

Image Credit: UrbanMetry

The post How UrbanMetry aims to solve big city problems using data analytics appeared first on e27.