ANZ will tap the data analytics expertise of DataCo, a business incubated under the bank’s start-up development program 1835i, with the pair confirming a new strategic partnership.

DataCo will be tasked with extracting “rich” and “actionable” insights from a broad sweep of aggregated ANZ datasets, including customer and transaction data, to unearth customer preferences, break down spending trends, and identify strategic opportunities for growth.

DataCo boasts that its platform, which was co-developed with ANZ and 1835i, is able to extract and decode data from a multiplicity of sources, using APIs to plug into customers’ chosen data and publishing platforms. As well, it makes extensive use of AI for data analysis, and features a collaborative generative AI assistant, dubbed ‘Collin’, to automate and assist with unearthing insights.

Among DataCo’s key products include Coordinates, which identifies opportunities for customer or revenue growth or customer loyalty, Compass, which aggregates and analyses data from different metrics as well as partner entities for cross-comparison, and Compare, which directly evaluates the performance of activities (including marketing or changes to products) against financial transaction data.

DataCo touts its robust privacy and security credentials, noting it is both ISO27001 certified and SOC 2 compliant.

Extracted data, ANZ stresses, is fully anonymised, or ‘de-identified’ before it is analysed within DataCo’s collaboration platform.

The platform, it says, able to unearth wider trends within the “intersection between data sets without revealing or sharing the underlying data sets or exposing customers not in the match set”.

Justin Greenstein, chief executive of 1835i, underscored DataCo’s commitment to data privacy and the strict use of de-identified data, providing “a safe and standardised way” to analyse datasets. This, he said, ensures partner organisations can “deliver personalised offers to customers and create value in a way that doesn’t compromise the security of the consumer”.

Founded in 2022 and developed under ANZ’s 1835i program before being spun off as an independent entity, DataCo is the first commercialised business to launch from 1835i’s Business Creation Lab.

The company already had a hand in developing innovations for the bank, supporting the build-out of ANZ Plus’s retail cashback program, Cashrewards.

ANZ’s group executive for strategy and transformation, Antony Strong welcomed the strategic partnership between the pair as an “important step in scaling what we see as a unique capability that helps us safely and compliantly connect data across organisations.”

DataCo co-founder and chief customer officer, Michael Bridgeman said the company will look to attract more partner businesses, particularly in the retail and consumer goods space.

“By doing this, we aim to contribute to the growth of a strong and healthy Australian economy.”