With experienced Finnish talent leaving their old jobs to form gaming companies like Supercell, Seriously and Boomlagoon, it’s easy to think that the growth of the scene has only lead to new gaming companies but that’s not the case. Helsinki and San Francisco based Omniata is branching out from their Digital Chocolate background to provide a better analytics solution for digital industries. What’s notable is that despite their gaming background, Omniata isn’t only focused on just the gaming industry. While they count local influencers such as Rovio and Playraven as customers, there are plenty of digital industries that could benefit from customizing user experience through data similar to what the gaming industry has done.
The platform integrates BI, analytics, in-app marketing, push notifications and A/B testing platforms into a single all-encompassing solution. The power of data is in how you can apply it to different segments of your business, and Omniata’s analytics tools are designed to evolve with a company’s needs. What’s missing, according to Omniata CEO Alex Arias, is a unified solution that gives you tools for all your data in one place. “You find a number of narrowly scoped tools like A/B testing on mobile or analytics for the web and databases. We decided to put all of that together because what was needed was a unified solution that has everything integrated,” Arias tells us.
A unified solution must also be able to adapt and change with the times. With the core team formed from Digital Chocolate in Finland and San Francisco, the company experienced the changes from feature phones to Facebook gaming, to the first generation of iPhones and to where we are in mobile today. This knowledge of an evolving industry is part of the reason why they’re building an all-in-one solution for the digital industry. As developers move into new platforms, analytics tools should also evolve to solve expanding use case without siloing data sources.
The company has been in a stealth, closed beta and is starting to make some noise by announcing Omniata Data Apps at Slush. “Omniata Data Apps will revolutionize the way marketers, product managers and data analysts use data, by enabling end-to-end use cases in just one click,” says Arias. “These apps can connect to mobile applications, websites, databases and APIs, providing a single view of the business and empowering the entire organization to analyze data and engage with consumers in real-time.”
With Helsinki as their European headquarters, Omniata is one of the bigger startup companies in Finland to have flown under the radar. The company has raised $6.8 million from Sigma West and Creandum since forming and employs over 20 people split between Helsinki and San Francisco. Arias was drawn back to Finland to reconnect with Omniata’s Digital Chocolate roots in Helsinki and because the company shares similar values with the local community, placing an emphasis on planning for the long term future. “We’re not trying to do short term, but solve real problems for the long term; you need people with the right mindset to help you,” says Arias. “That’s why you have some of the larger, more successful tech companies originating or starting offices here. They’re iterating until they become the best in the world.”
Another reason is pure practicality. With European game developers topping the charts, it’s a priority for the team to be close to their industry leading customers for support outside of San Francisco’s tech scene. “We want to collaborate and have a solid partnership with our customers using our expertise to help solve advanced use cases,” says Cara Lundqvist, VP Operations and General Manager of Omniata Helsinki. “The community in the tech and gaming industry is very strong in Finland. We’re leveraging that mindset here to show that we can push the whole industry towards success together.”
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