FullContact buys company in India to add human touch

FullContact’s dynamic address book is expected to become more user-friendly with the Denver company’s purchase of Profoundis, a company in India that uses humans to verify data.

“Our goal is to be the smartest, most comprehensive and most up-to-date address book on the planet,” FullContact’s chief technology officer Scott Brave said in a statement.

“The only way to truly achieve that is by integrating the best of human intelligence with machine intelligence. Profoundis is a key element of that strategy.”

FullContact already adds a bit more depth to digital contacts and keeps them current. It gathers up public information (such as public websites, social networks, trusted partners and FullContact users) and updates free accounts monthly and paid accounts daily.

Profoundis’ human touch contributes context and, the company says, “adds a human verification and data research element.”

Much larger competitor LinkedIn, which is in the process of getting acquired for $26 billion by Microsoft, relies on humans to input their personal data. But no one seems to vet everyone’s account so LinkedIn offers a way to report fake profiles.

FullContact is on a roll after acquiring Conspire last week. No price was disclosed for either purchase, but both are presumably less than the $25 million FullContact raised from investors earlier this month. Investors include Boulder venture capitalist Brad Feld and his Foundry Group. To date, FullContact has raised $50 million from outside investors.

Profoundis’ 70 employees will mostly stay put in India. FullContact now employs 171 people.