42matters
From AltData.wiki, The Alternative Data Encyclopedia
42matters is a Swiss app intelligence company founded in 2011 and headquartered in Zurich. It maintains a database covering mobile and connected TV (CTV) app stores — including the Apple App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore, Tencent, Roku, and others — tracking more than 20 million apps, 2.1 million publishers, and over 2,600 SDKs across 12 platforms.[1][2]
The company provides this data through its Explorer research tool, APIs, and file dumps, serving use cases in advertising technology, cybersecurity, sales intelligence, and market research. In July 2024, 42matters was acquired by digital intelligence firm Similarweb, which had partnered with the company for two years beforehand.[2]
What It Does
42matters aggregates metadata, performance metrics, and technology signals from major mobile and CTV app stores. Its dataset includes download and revenue estimates, ratings and reviews, integrated SDKs, app permissions, and app-ads.txt records, delivered both as interactive tools and as raw data feeds.[1]
The data is used to map app ecosystems, verify inventory quality, detect ad fraud, support malware and permission analysis, and build prospect lists of app publishers.[1]
Products
Core products are 42 Explorer, a visual interface for researching iOS, Android, and Roku apps and publishers; a suite of REST APIs providing near-real-time access to app metadata and metrics; and File Dumps, bulk data feeds optimized for large-scale ingestion. The offering now sits within Similarweb's App Intelligence product line.[1][2]
Buyers and Use Cases
Documented customer segments include ad tech firms (bid enrichment, app-ads.txt validation, brand safety), cybersecurity vendors (APK/IPA analysis, certificate hashes, risky SDK monitoring), and sales teams targeting app publishers. Named customers at the time of acquisition included Comcast, Criteo, and Ogury.[1][2]
For example, ad tech company Infillion has used 42matters' aggregated app-ads.txt file dumps to enrich and validate real-time bidding requests.[1]
History
42matters was founded in 2011 by Andrea Girardello, Ivan Delchev, and Andreas Budde and is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland (legally 42matters AG).[2] Before the acquisition, it operated as a data partner within Similarweb's App Intelligence offering for approximately two years; Similarweb announced the acquisition on July 1, 2024, incorporating 42matters' coverage into its Data-as-a-Service catalog.[2]
Landscape
42matters competes in the app intelligence and app store analytics market alongside providers such as AppMagic, Sensor Tower, and data.ai-era offerings, differentiating on CTV app store coverage (Roku, Fire TV, Google TV, Samsung, LG, Vizio) and SDK-level indexing.[1][2]