Intersec has secured $20m in a round of funding that the company will use to bolster the reach of its big data platform for telcos and its expansion outside of telecoms.

Telecom networks generate tons of data and many are looking to big data platforms to help them reduce churn, improve operational efficiency or create new revenue streams by using that data in clever ways.

Intersec, which was founded in 2009, offers a platform that claims to do just that: improve operational efficiency of networks by delivering insight into how customers use those networks, and generate new revenue / decrease churn by offering contextually aware services that take consumer preference and location-based data into consideration.

The platform is already being used by Orange and Telefónica among other large operators, and the company said it plans to use the funding to bolster its reach in telecoms and apply the technology outside of the sector, particularly in the US.

“Intersec has successfully transitioned over the last few years into the leading player in telco big data software, building on its leadership in Europe,” said Yann Chevalier, chief executive officer at Intersec. “The US market is key to our success and we plan to invest significantly to expand our US Headquarters in New York.”

Research and analysis firm A.T. Kearney predicts that the market for big data software and services will grow 30 per cent annually to reach $114bn by 2018, in part because many large firms – not just telcos – are grappling with the same core challenge: how to deliver the right offer or service to the right person at the right time.