# Dataminr

Dataminr is an AI company headquartered in New York that provides real-time event detection and alerting from public data, serving corporations, first responders, and news organizations.

Dataminr is an artificial intelligence company that specializes in real-time event detection and alerting from public data. Its private sector product, Dataminr Pulse, is used by corporations to monitor live events and support crisis response through playbooks, messaging tools, and post-event documentation. The company's First Alert technology is employed by first responders, including those aiding during natural disasters and other emergencies. Similar applications are offered by social surveillance vendors such as Feedly, Geofeedia, Raven Pack, Semantic Visions, ShadowDragon, and Signal AI.

Dataminr employs around 800 people and is headquartered in New York City. The company maintains offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Bozeman, Seattle, London, Dublin, Melbourne, and Copenhagen.

## History

Dataminr was founded in 2009 by Yale University graduates Ted Bailey, Sam Hendel, and Jeff Kinsey. The company gained wider attention when it issued an alert about the death of Osama bin Laden 23 minutes faster than major news organizations.

In 2014, Dataminr partnered with CNN and Twitter, resulting in Dataminr for News, a tool designed to alert journalists to emerging information on Twitter in real time. The company later detected clusters indicating future spikes in 14 different US states; seven days later, all 14 states were hit hard by the coronavirus. In May 2019, Dataminr partnered with the United Nations to equip thousands of UN personnel with its First Alert product for the public sector.

Dataminr's social media intelligence contract for the FBI was taken over by Zerofox at the end of 2020. On the morning of January 5, 2021, Dataminr allegedly warned Capitol security officials of troubling online public chatter that would soon become the January 6 riot.

In July 2021, Dataminr conducted its first M&A transaction by acquiring WatchKeeper, a UK-based geovisualization platform, and combined WatchKeeper's geovisualized data layers with its Pulse platform to provide context around events. A few months later, in October 2021, Dataminr acquired Krizo, a real-time crisis response platform based in Copenhagen.

In 2025, Dataminr announced three separate funding rounds. In March 2025, it raised $85 million from NightDragon and HSBC. In April 2025, a further $100 million was obtained from Fortress Investment Group and NightDragon in the form of convertible debt. In September 2025, Dataminr completed an additional $300 million convertible debt financing round, again led by Fortress and NightDragon. In October 2025, Dataminr announced plans to acquire cyber threat intelligence firm ThreatConnect for $290 million in cash and equity.

## Technology and Products

Dataminr's core technology relies on [artificial-intelligence](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/artificial-intelligence) and [machine-learning](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/machine-learning) to analyze vast streams of public data, including social media posts, news feeds, and other open sources. The system detects patterns and anomalies that indicate emerging events, such as natural disasters, security threats, or breaking news. The company's products are designed to deliver alerts in real time, enabling clients to respond quickly.

Dataminr Pulse, the primary private sector product, provides event monitoring and crisis management tools. It includes playbooks for standard operating procedures, messaging capabilities for internal and external communication, and post-event documentation for analysis and compliance. First Alert, aimed at public sector and first responder clients, focuses on early warning for emergency events, including natural disasters and civil unrest.

The company's approach involves clustering signals from public data to identify potential spikes in activity. This method was demonstrated in its early detection of COVID-19 hotspots in US states, where it predicted future infection surges based on social media chatter.

## Partnerships and Clients

Dataminr has established partnerships with major media organizations and public institutions. The collaboration with CNN and Twitter in 2014 led to Dataminr for News, which was used by journalists to discover breaking stories. The partnership with the UN in 2019 equipped thousands of personnel with First Alert, enhancing their situational awareness in crisis zones.

In the private sector, Dataminr serves corporations across industries, including finance, energy, and retail, helping them manage risks related to supply chain disruptions, natural disasters, and geopolitical events. The company's clients also include government agencies, though some contracts have been subject to controversy (see below).

## Controversies

### Surveillance of law-abiding abortion rights protests

According to reports from The Intercept, Dataminr provided social media surveillance on lawful, constitutionally-protected pro-abortion rights protests to the US Marshals. This raised concerns about the company's role in monitoring activities protected by the First Amendment.

### Surveillance of racial justice protests

In 2020, The Intercept reported that police departments used Dataminr services for surveillance during the George Floyd protests, including accessing social media posts about protest locations and actions. The monitoring seemed at odds with claims from both Twitter and Dataminr that neither company would engage in or facilitate domestic surveillance following a string of 2016 controversies. Twitter claimed that Dataminr was just "news alerting." In response, Dataminr clarified that "First Alert identifies breaking news events without any regard to the racial or ethnic composition of an area where a breaking news event occurs. … Race, ethnicity, or any other demographic characteristic of the people posting public social media posts about events is never part of determining whether a breaking news alert is sent to First Alert clients." It also stated that "First Alert does not enable any type of geospatial analysis. First Alert provides no feature or function that allows a user to analyze the locations of specific social media posts, social media users or plot social media posts on a map."

### Surveillance of pro-Palestinian protests and collaboration with LAPD

In 2025, The Intercept reported that Dataminr had surveilled pro-Palestinian protests in Los Angeles and had tipped off the LAPD to pro-Palestinian demonstrations. From October 2023 to April 2024, Dataminr had alerted the LAPD to more than 50 pro-Palestinian demonstrations, including a dozen before they had occurred. The University of Houston also used Dataminr to surveil pro-Palestinian protests on its campus. These actions sparked criticism regarding the targeting of political speech and potential violations of civil liberties.

## Funding and Acquisitions

Dataminr has raised significant capital to support its growth. The 2025 funding rounds, totaling $485 million, were led by investors including NightDragon, HSBC, and Fortress Investment Group. The company has also pursued strategic acquisitions to expand its capabilities. The acquisition of WatchKeeper in 2021 enhanced its geospatial visualization, while the purchase of Krizo strengthened its crisis response offerings. The proposed acquisition of ThreatConnect in 2025 would add cyber threat intelligence to its portfolio.

## See Also

- [artificial-intelligence](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/artificial-intelligence)
- [machine-learning](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/machine-learning)
- [openai](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/openai)
- [google-deepmind](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/google-deepmind)

## References

- The Intercept reports (2020, 2025)
- Company announcements and press releases

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Source: https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/dataminr
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
Last updated: 2026-09-12T22:22:05.322478+00:00