Constellation, a distributed infrastructure that connects big data with blockchain, today announced it has acquired Dor, a startup that helps retail brands grow by empowering them to improve customer outcomes via its data analytics solution that enables them to better understand store foot traffic.
With the acquisition, Constellation is positioned to acquire and codify Dor’s voluminous foot traffic data and link this data with other large consumer datasets.
Equipped with this data, the company will provide new insight into the spending habits of millions of consumers without compromising privacy. By combining its existing mobile node infrastructure and Dor’s hardware, Constellation aims to create the largest mesh network in the blockchain.
“Acquiring a data-driven hardware and software company will help us increase Constellation’s network utility. With its cutting edge technology, Dor is providing critical data that is enabling thousands of retail stores in the US and Canada to improve the customer experience. With this acquisition and the data we can obtain with Dor’s battery-operated and cellular-powered thermal sensors, we can put millions of monthly data points into our network. This acquisition kickstarts our vision and ambition to merge crypto businesses with traditional businesses.”
– Ben Jorgensen, CEO of Constellation
Constellation + Dor
A startup, based in San Francisco, Dor will continue its retail operations while working with Constellation to develop new blockchain-focused products.
Dor was founded by two former Apple engineers in 2015 and funded by leading venture capital firms including Zetta Ventures, Bolt Ventures, BCV, Conductive Ventures, RevTech Ventures, Precursor Ventures, and Vertex Ventures in Seed and Series A rounds with a total investment of more than $15 million.
“The data that Dor provides allows retailers to make changes to better optimize their stores’ performance. In a world where stores use an endless amount of experiments and tactics to increase sales, there is no way to pinpoint which methods work unless you have the data that can back it up. Constellation will help us streamline that data in addition to exploring new possibilities in the world of cryptocurrency and distributed ledger technology.”
– Michael Brand, CEO of Dor
Blockchain Model That Supports a World of New Apps
Unlike blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, which face scalability challenges due to their linear networks, the Constellation network is based on a directed acyclic graph (DAG) model.
This model forms a database of nodes in a decentralized lattice structure that can handle millions of data inputs and grow exponentially as the amount of data grows.
With the combined growth of Constellation’s Hypergraph network and Dor’s hardware innovation, the acquisition lays the foundation for new developments in blockchain technology and integrations into real-world applications and bolstered infrastructure.
More than 2,000 retailers rely on Dor’s technology to make actionable, data-driven decisions based on foot traffic information. Dor’s thermal foot traffic counter counts the heat signatures of store visitors and is supported by its proprietary machine learning algorithms to maintain and increase the accuracy rates.
Dor’s sensor is a peel-and-stick solution that uses a cellular connection which makes it easy and secure to install for both independent and enterprise retailers. Dor’s thermal sensor tracks customers anonymously, so there’s no risk of compromising customer privacy.
The acquisition of Dor reflects Constellation’s vision to lead a global mesh network on distributed devices. Now, Constellation will have the capability to deploy its tech to the retail sector and tap into the significant market size of brick and mortar stores by extending its network with mobile nodes for transactions.
