About Dataminr
Dataminr was founded in 2009 by Ted Bailey, along with academic collaborators from Columbia University, based on early research into how patterns of activity on public social media platforms, particularly Twitter (now X), could serve as an extremely early, real-time signal of breaking news events, natural disasters, security incidents, and other developing situations, often surfacing meaningful signal well before traditional news reporting could confirm and publish information about a fast-moving event.
Dataminr's core technology applies machine learning to continuously analyze extremely high volumes of public data, historically centered heavily on Twitter/X but expanded over time to include other public data sources, identifying patterns and anomalies that indicate a potentially significant emerging event, such as a natural disaster, act of violence, infrastructure failure, or public health incident, and generating real-time alerts to relevant customers who need to know about developing situations as quickly as possible to inform their own response decisions. The company's customer base spans corporate security and crisis management teams at large companies needing to protect employees, facilities, and supply chains from emerging physical security threats and natural disasters; news organizations using Dataminr's alerts to identify breaking news events faster than traditional reporting channels; and government and public sector customers, including law enforcement and emergency management agencies, using the technology for public safety and situational awareness purposes. Dataminr's use of public social media data for public safety and government-facing use cases has periodically drawn scrutiny and public debate regarding the privacy and civil liberties implications of AI-driven monitoring of public social media activity, particularly regarding government and law enforcement customers, a tension common to many technologies operating at the intersection of public data analysis and public safety or security applications. The company has raised very substantial venture funding from investors including Goldman Sachs, IVP, and Eden Global Partners, reaching a valuation exceeding $4 billion.
