By integrating market share feeds from 14 African markets into its offline operating system, Native combines ground-level execution with independent performance measurement for global consumer brands.
In a major expansion of its global footprint, agentic intelligence company Native has announced the acquisition of Frontline Research Group, a premier market intelligence provider operating across more than 14 African markets.
The strategic acquisition introduces robust, independent market share data into Native’s platform, giving consumer goods companies a closed-loop system that connects on-the-ground commercial actions directly to measurable outcomes. The move extends Native’s reach from Latin America into Africa, marking a critical milestone in its mission to digitize and optimize the world’s largest fragmented offline markets.
Africa represents an immense, yet historically difficult-to-navigate growth market for global consumer goods companies. Approximately $1.7 trillion in consumer spend flows through the continent annually, with an estimated 80% moving through traditional trade channels. Comprising more than 10 million analog stores, these fragmented physical networks have long lacked the transparency required for data-driven corporate decision-making.
Native’s platform, featuring its Lattice (field execution), Strata (distribution analytics), and Overwatch (commercial optimization) subscriptions, is designed to help brands see, act, and measure across these complex environments.
“Most people would look at Frontline and see a regional research company. We see a proprietary data asset at the center of a $1.7 trillion consumer economy,” said Matt McNabb, CEO of Native. “Frontline has built market share signals in 14 African markets that cannot be credibly scraped, inferred or bought off the shelf. When that signal connects to Native’s 3D Store Graph and agentic workflows, the equation changes: brands can see what is happening in the store, understand whether share actually moved and know what to do next.”
Frontline brings deeply verticalized market share panels trusted by heavyweights such as AB InBev, Coca-Cola, Heineken, Diageo, Pepsi, and Unilever. By embedding these proprietary feeds into Native’s agentic AI ecosystem, brands gain a verified feedback loop that validates whether commercial strategies are moving market share in real time.
Following the close of the transaction, Frontline CEO Sean Barnes will transition to Chief Strategy Officer at Native, ensuring continuity and driving the next phase of integrated product growth.
“Native’s platform gives that data a new dimension, pairing our regional depth with major advancements in machine-readable retail, agentic AI, and subscription software,” said Barnes. “That is a fundamentally stronger offering than either company could deliver alone, and it opens up an exciting new chapter for our team.”
