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Financial data and information services · United States

Cuebiq

cuebiq.com ↗

Cuebiq sells location and mobility data plus foot-traffic analytics to advertisers and retailers.

Losing its protection
Assessed 21 July 2026 · Evidence as of 21 July 2026
The structural protection is eroding.
On the recordSince 21 July 2026 · Checkable from within 6-12 months, 2026 · Every call on the record Checkpoint: Whether FTC enforcement (following Kochava, Mobilewalla, InMarket) names Cuebiq directly
The call

Cuebiq is a shrinking location-data vendor squeezed between a well-funded direct rival and rising regulatory pressure on the entire location-data business model.

Cuebiq collects information about where people go and sells it to stores and advertisers so they can understand shopping patterns and customer behavior. The company is hard to compete with because it has collected years of location data, but it is getting easier to replace because Placer.ai has raised 10 times more money, already serves thousands of customers, and can do the same job. The one thing that could change everything is if the government stops allowing companies like Cuebiq to sell this data at all, which is already happening to similar companies.

Why
01
AI pressure: AI-native location-analytics entrants (e.g. PassBy) and automated pattern-detection tools. AI tools that auto-generate foot-traffic insights from cheaper data feeds threaten to commoditize the pattern-detection work Cuebiq charges for. Could AI do the core job? Yes, likely.
02
Bigger players: Placer.ai. Placer.ai raised $150M in 2025, has about 4,500 clients and roughly 28% of North American market share while Cuebiq has not raised since 2018. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.
03
What protects it. Compliance certifications and long-standing anchor accounts like Luxottica, but these are category-wide, not unique to Cuebiq.
What would change this call
FTC names Cuebiq in a location-data enforcement action, as it did with Kochava, Mobilewalla, and InMarket. Would show Cuebiq's data practices face the same regulatory exposure already hitting peers.
Cuebiq announces a new institutional funding round of $50M or more. Would show renewed investor confidence after no new round since 2018.
A named enterprise client like Luxottica switches to Placer.ai, Trade Desk, or Experian for location analytics. Would show Cuebiq's remaining anchor accounts are being absorbed by larger rivals.
Key numbers
  • No institutional funding since $27M Series B (2018-05-18)
  • Headcount estimated 50 to 75 employees (2024-05-23)
  • Revenue estimated $8.6M to $25M (2024-03-14)
Named risks
  • FTC enforcement pattern against location-data brokers (Kochava, Mobilewalla, InMarket) could extend to Cuebiq. Severity: high
  • No institutional funding since May 2018 while capital-intensive rivals like Placer.ai raise $150M. Severity: high
  • Headcount contraction, down to an estimated 50-75 employees with -32% YoY decline reported in 2022. Severity: medium
  • SDK deprecation removed proprietary first-party data-sourcing moat, leaving only category-wide compliance certifications. Severity: medium
  • Recent CEO transition not yet consistently reflected across business databases, creating leadership uncertainty. Severity: low
Rivals, as read in July 2026
RivalDirectionEvidence
Placer.ailosing toRaised $150M in 2025, ~4,500 clients, ~28% NA share vs Cuebiq's no funding since 2018
PassBygaining onMarkets ChatGPT/Copilot/Gemini integration as AI-native alternative to legacy location vendors, April 2026
Gravy Analytics, Near, Unacast, SafeGraph, Foursquare, inMarketcontestingNamed as direct peers competing for same location-data client base, 2024
The Trade Desk, ExperiancontestingAd-tech platforms Cuebiq integrates with but which could absorb its data role directly, 2025
Questions people ask
Is Cuebiq profitable in 2026?
No audited financials are public. Third-party trackers estimate revenue between $8.6M and $25M as of 2024, and Cuebiq has raised no institutional funding since its $27M Series B in May 2018, suggesting a capital-constrained, likely unprofitable operation.
Could AI replace Cuebiq's location analytics?
Much of Cuebiq's value, GPS pattern detection, stop classification, audience segmentation, is commoditizable ML work. AI-native rivals like PassBy market direct integration with ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini (as of April 2026), while Cuebiq has shown no dated generative-AI feature launches in the past 18 months.
Who is Cuebiq's biggest competitor?
Placer.ai is Cuebiq's closest direct rival, having raised $150M in 2025 and reaching an estimated 4,500-plus clients and roughly 28% North American location-intelligence market share as of March 2026, far outpacing Cuebiq's funding, which has stalled since 2018.
Who owns Cuebiq?
Cuebiq is privately held (legally Cuebiq Group, LLC), backed by around eight investors including Goldman Sachs Principal Strategic Investments and Nasdaq Ventures from its May 2018 Series B. No acquisition, IPO, or ownership change has been publicly disclosed as of 2026.
Is Cuebiq facing regulatory risk over location data?
Yes. The FTC finalized a settlement against data broker Kochava on June 26, 2026 banning sale of sensitive location data without consent, following 2024 action against Mobilewalla and a 2026 action against InMarket, both in Cuebiq's core business category of location-data brokering.
When did Cuebiq last raise funding?
Cuebiq's last disclosed institutional round was a $27M Series B co-led by Goldman Sachs Principal Strategic Investments and Nasdaq Ventures, announced May 18, 2018. Total cumulative funding is reported inconsistently at $30.5M to $37.8M as of March 2026, with no new round since.
Timeline
  • 2026-07-19Report details FTC enforcement pattern against location-data brokers Mobilewalla (2024) and InMarket (2026)
  • 2026-06-26FTC finalized settlement against data broker Kochava banning sale of sensitive location data
  • 2026-06-25California Delete Act/DROP portal imposing new data-broker deletion obligations takes effect
  • 2026-04-23Cuebiq partners with PadSquad; reports identify Francesco Guglielmino as CEO
  • 2026-04-13AI-native rival PassBy markets ChatGPT/Copilot/Gemini integration as Placer.ai alternative
  • 2026-03-20Report: Placer.ai holds ~28% NA market share and $150M raised in 2025
  • 2026-03-02Caplight profile cites $30.5M-$37.8M cumulative Cuebiq funding and 5B daily GPS positions
  • 2025-11-18Cuebiq appoints Zora Senat as Chief Commercial Officer, ex-Verisk/Infutor
  • 2025-03-31Cuebiq ships stop-algorithm upgrade improving location clustering accuracy
  • 2018-05-18Cuebiq raises $27M Series B co-led by Goldman Sachs PSI and Nasdaq Ventures
Revision history
21 July 2026
First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
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