NUS spins off data analytics startup 6Estates

• Says it provides businesses with deeper real-time market and consumer insights
• Licensing 4 NUS technologies in advanced data, predictive and linguistic analytics

THE National University of Singapore (NUS) said it has spun off a new startup called 6Estates from the NUS-Tsinghua Extreme Search Centre (NExT), the research centre it jointly established with Tsinghua University of China.
 
6Estates is a big data analytics software company with the ability to transform huge volumes and varieties of structured and unstructured data into insights automatically, NUS claimed.
 
The startup has strengths in deep natural language processing for both English and Chinese, to help global businesses understand the China market, as well as Chinese businesses compete in global markets, NUS said in a statement.
 
It was cofounded last year by industry veterans and researchers Gary Chin; Dr Luan Huanbo; Professor Chua Tat Seng; and Roger Yuen.
 
Chua and Yuen are also cofounders of ViSenze, another NExT spinoff, whose visual search technology is being used by companies like e-commerce giant Rakuten.
 
6Estates is currently raising its Series A funding, and has already raised S$1 million in seed funding from its cofounders, angel investors and grant funding from Spring Singapore via the Technology Enterprise Commercialisation Scheme.
 
It has already secured several major clients and partners, including Ogilvy & Mather China and Mediacom.
 
“People are increasingly moving to digital platforms and posting massive amounts of their conversations across numerous sites,” said 6Estates cofounder and chief executive officer Gary Chin.
 
“By leveraging on 6Estates, businesses that effectively utilise these insights will significantly improve their ROI (return on investment) in marketing campaigns, research initiatives, and customer engagement,” he claimed.
 
6Estates said it offers automated, live intelligence on consumer behaviour, brands, and industry trends.
 
With such insights, businesses can better develop actionable strategies that improve their customer experience, service and product offerings.
 
6Estates’ platform provides category and audience insights, based on different industry and consumer segments. This helps businesses understand what their customers are saying, and what product features customers in different markets really want.
 
This is especially useful in developing new marketing campaigns, new products that will sell, or understanding potential problems and areas to improve upon, the startup said.
 
Powered by NUS technologies

The 6Estates platform is powered by four technologies licensed from NUS, in the areas of advanced data, predictive and linguistic analytics, the university said in its statement, and has built upon these technologies.
 
The above technologies were the results of many years of research at NExT. The NUS Industry Liaison Office, part of NUS Enterprise, helped patent NExT’s technologies, and assisted in spinning off 6Estates from NUS.
 
“We are pleased to see yet another spin-off emerging from Professor Chua Tat Seng’s laboratory at NExT – this demonstrates the market relevance and strong commercial potential of his research,” said NUS Industry Liaison Office director Sean Flanigan.
 
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