FT Locations
FT Locations, a Financial Times Group division, provides subscription-based FDI intelligence, GIS mapping, CRM, and consulting software to investment promotion agencies, economic development organizations, corporates, and site selection consultants across 90+ countries.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2001
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What FT Locations does
FT Locations is a specialist division of the Financial Times Group (owned by Nikkei) that provides location intelligence, foreign direct investment (FDI) data, and economic development software to investment promotion agencies (IPAs), economic development organisations (EDOs), corporates, site selection consultants, and academic institutions. Founded in 2001 as fDi Magazine and rebranded under the unified FT Locations banner in 2024, the company operates as a private subsidiary of The Financial Times (Overseas) Limited, headquartered in San Francisco with 17 office locations globally and 11-50 employees. The business is built around three decades of proprietary cross-border investment data tracking, with the core product (fDi Markets) monitoring greenfield FDI in real-time across all markets and sectors since 2003, covering 403,000+ projects and £14 trillion+ in tracked investment.
The company offers a portfolio of 10+ premium subscription products organized into five focus areas: data and analysis (fDi Markets, fDi Benchmark, IncentivesFlow, InvestmentFlow); marketing and attraction (ZoomProspector, InvestmentMap, ZoomTour, advertising/sponsorship); strategy and consulting (fDi Strategies); business development (Amplify CRM, fDi Influencers, events and roundtables); and professional development (fDi Institute e-learning platform with 3,500+ certifications awarded). The technology stack is a cloud-based SaaS platform combining proprietary FDI databases, GIS mapping tools, and CRM functionality, with 1,800 active clients across 90+ countries.
FT Locations monetizes primarily through annual subscription contracts (per-seat or per-organization licensing) supplemented by professional services (fDi Strategies consulting, fDi Institute training workshops), events and roundtables delivered in partnership with FT Live, and advertising through fDi Intelligence editorial. Pricing is quote-based and tailored to organizational needs, with no public pricing disclosed. The go-to-market model is enterprise field sales with regional product specialists in the Americas, Europe, Africa/Middle East, and Asia Pacific, supported by a top-of-funnel content marketing engine (Knowledge Hub, webinars, fDi Intelligence editorial) and bottom-of-funnel case studies from government clients such as Invest in Bogota, WESGRO, Sturgeon County, and Focus Central PA.
FT Locations firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- FT Locations
- Legal name
- The Financial Times (Overseas) Limited
- Website
- https://ftlocations.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2001
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- FT Locations, a Financial Times Group division, provides subscription-based FDI intelligence, GIS mapping, CRM, and consulting software to investment promotion agencies, economic development organizations, corporates, and site selection consultants across 90+ countries.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
FT Locations industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Location Intelligence Software
- NAICS
- Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services (51929), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Geocoding, Search & Place Data Platforms (BPAMANAC)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- POI, Local Listings & Business Directory Platforms (BPAMANAD)
Keywords
Where FT Locations is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices17 records
Markets served
FT Locations business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Premium Subscription Products: FT Locations generates primary revenue through subscription-based access to its suite of data tools and platforms including fDi Markets, fDi Benchmark, ZoomProspector, InvestmentMap, IncentivesFlow, InvestmentFlow, Amplify, fDi Influencers, and fDi Institute. Subscriptions are typically annual and licensed per organisation or team, with pricing based on the number of participants or seats.
- Professional Services and Consulting: The company offers consulting services through fDi Strategies for tailored strategy and consultancy advice, as well as custom training workshops through fDi Institute Live and bespoke Academy programmes. These professional services complement the data products.
- Events and Roundtables: FT Locations and FT Live (events division of Financial Times) collaborate to deliver lead generation events, roundtables, digital dialogue webinars, and briefing events for investment promotion agencies and economic development organisations.
- Advertising and Sponsorship: Print and digital advertising opportunities through fDi Intelligence, a specialist publication reaching C-suite executives and cross-border investment professionals in the FDI industry.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Quote-based custom pricing |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels8 records
FT Locations product offering
Product offeringCore offering
FT Locations provides location intelligence software and economic development data products for organizations that promote or evaluate foreign direct investment. Its offerings combine a long-running FDI tracking database (fDi Markets), GIS-based site selection and mapping tools (ZoomProspector, InvestmentMap, ZoomTour), benchmarking and incentives databases (fDi Benchmark, IncentivesFlow), and supporting research, advisory, and event services. Customers are primarily investment promotion agencies, economic development organizations, corporates, consultants, and academic institutions.
Product overview
FT Locations offers a unified portfolio of premium subscription products and consulting services for foreign and domestic direct investment (FDI). The portfolio combines data and analysis tools (fDi Markets, fDi Benchmark, IncentivesFlow, InvestmentFlow), GIS mapping and marketing tools (ZoomProspector, InvestmentMap, ZoomTour), business development solutions (Amplify CRM, fDi Influencers database, Events and Roundtables), professional development (fDi Institute e-learning and training workshops), strategy consulting (fDi Strategies), and editorial content (fDi Intelligence). The platform is built around the world's largest corporate investment dataset covering hundreds of thousands of businesses globally, designed to help investment promotion agencies, economic development organisations, corporates, and consultants make better location-based decisions.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- fDi Markets: The leading online database tracking greenfield FDI in real-time across all markets and sectors globally since 2003.
- fDi Benchmark
- IncentivesFlow
- InvestmentFlow
- ZoomProspector
- InvestmentMap
- ZoomTour
- fDi Institute
- Amplify
- fDi Influencers
- fDi Strategies
- fDi Intelligence
- Knowledge Hub
Products and services
- fDi Markets
- ZoomProspector
- InvestmentMap
- ZoomTour
- fDi Benchmark
- IncentivesFlow
- InvestmentFlow
- fDi Strategies
Quantifiable outcome
- 500+ organisations supported globally with investment promotion
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use FT Locations
Customer profileNamed customers9 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
FT Locations technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature10 records
FT Locations partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Ten partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.
- ColliersminorColliers is a global commercial real estate services and investment management company that uses FT Locations data tools (particularly IncentivesFlow) to provide clients with market intelligence on economic incentive conditions for site selection decisions.
- Copenhagen CapacityminorCopenhagen Capacity, the official investment promotion agency for Greater Copenhagen, partners with FT Locations to access data tools for attracting investment to the Copenhagen region.
- Invest GlasgowminorInvest Glasgow uses FT Locations products to support investment attraction activities for the Glasgow region, showcasing investment opportunities and tracking FDI data.
- Montreal InternationalminorMontreal International, the economic development organisation for Greater Montreal, partners with FT Locations to access data tools for attracting foreign direct investment to the Montreal region.
- Sheffield City RegionminorSheffield City Region Combined Authority uses FT Locations products to support investment promotion and economic development activities in the Sheffield region.
- Site Selection GroupminorSite Selection Group, a leading corporate location advisory firm, uses IncentivesFlow to provide clients with immediate market intelligence on economic incentive conditions in targeted geographies.
- Sturgeon CountyminorSturgeon County in Alberta, Canada uses FT Locations data tools and consulting services to create data-informed economic development strategies for attracting investment.
- Yes WinnipegminorYes Winnipeg, the economic development organisation for Winnipeg, Canada, uses FT Locations products to support investment attraction and economic development activities.
- Invest in MurciaminorInvest in Murcia, the official investment promotion agency for the Region of Murcia, Spain, partners with FT Locations to access data tools for investment attraction.
- FT LivecoreFT Live is the events division of the Financial Times that partners with FT Locations to develop and deliver events for the investment promotion and economic development industry, including roundtables, digital dialogue webinars, and briefing events.
Scale indicators12 records
Recent moves11 records
Expansion highlights6 records
FT Locations competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- CoStar Group: CoStar is the dominant commercial real estate intelligence platform with property data, analytics, and marketplaces. It overlaps with FT Locations' ZoomProspector commercial property and site-selection use cases and brings far larger scale and broader real-estate data assets.
- Esri: Esri is the leading GIS software provider (ArcGIS) used by governments and economic development organizations for spatial analysis and mapping. It competes in the GIS/mapping layer underpinning FT Locations' ZoomProspector and InvestmentMap products.
- Cushman & Wakefield: Cushman & Wakefield's Global Location Strategy practice provides site selection, incentives advisory, and economic development consulting services to corporates and IPAs, comparable to FT Locations' data-and-consulting model.
- CBRE Group: CBRE is a global commercial real estate services and investment firm whose Location Strategy and Incentives Advisory practices directly compete with FT Locations' data and consulting offerings for corporate site selection and economic development advisory.
- Moody's Analytics (Bureau van Dijk): Moody's Analytics, including Bureau van Dijk's Orbis and company-information databases, provides company and corporate ownership intelligence used by IPAs, EDOs, and corporate site selectors, partially overlapping with FT Locations' investor and corporate databases.
- JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle): JLL is a global real estate services firm with a dedicated Location Strategy and Incentives practice that serves corporates and IPAs. Its consulting and incentives advisory overlap with FT Locations' IncentivesFlow, fDi Benchmark, and fDi Strategies.
- PitchBook Data: PitchBook provides private capital market intelligence (deals, investors, companies) used by corporate development teams and economic development organizations. It overlaps with FT Locations' company and investment tracking datasets, particularly for cross-border corporate intelligence.
Emerging players
- Lightcast (EMSI): Lightcast provides labor market analytics, workforce data, and demographic intelligence widely used by economic development organizations and site selectors. It overlaps with FT Locations' workforce/demographic data components and is increasingly competing for EDO budgets.
Direct peers
- Conway Data / Area Development Magazine: Area Development / Conway Data publishes corporate site selection intelligence and operates the SiteNet database and consulting services targeting economic development organizations, directly overlapping with FT Locations' editorial and data products.
- Site Selection Group: Site Selection Group is a corporate location advisory and incentives services firm that already uses FT Locations' IncentivesFlow as a market intelligence tool. It is a direct competitor in corporate site selection and incentives advisory and a channel partner.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
FT Locations social profiles
Digital presenceFT Locations compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
FT Locations financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
FT Locations leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles7 records
FT Locations subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries3 records
FT Locations funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
FT Locations M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about FT Locations
What does FT Locations do?
FT Locations provides location intelligence software and economic development data products for organizations that promote or evaluate foreign direct investment. Its offerings combine a long-running FDI tracking database (fDi Markets), GIS-based site selection and mapping tools (ZoomProspector, InvestmentMap, ZoomTour), benchmarking and incentives databases (fDi Benchmark, IncentivesFlow), and supporting research, advisory, and event services. Customers are primarily investment promotion agencies, economic development organizations, corporates, consultants, and academic institutions.
Is FT Locations a public or private company?
FT Locations is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was FT Locations founded?
FT Locations was founded in 2001. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is FT Locations based?
FT Locations is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does FT Locations make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Premium Subscription Products are the primary driver. The others are professional Services and Consulting, events and Roundtables and advertising and Sponsorship.
Who are FT Locations's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are CoStar Group, Esri, Cushman & Wakefield, CBRE Group, Moody's Analytics (Bureau van Dijk), JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle) and PitchBook Data. Lightcast (EMSI) is listed as an emerging player. Direct peers are Conway Data / Area Development Magazine and Site Selection Group.
Does FT Locations have an API?
No public API is recorded for FT Locations.
What industry is FT Locations in?
FT Locations's product category is Location Intelligence Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMANAC, Geocoding, Search & Place Data Platforms, with a secondary code of BPAMANAD, POI, Local Listings & Business Directory Platforms. Its NAICS code is 51929 and its SIC code is 7370.