Zartico is a leading visitor intelligence SaaS company purpose-built for place-based industries. Their solutions fuse data science with real-world behavior to provide comprehensive insight into the visitor journey—spanning behavioral patterns, economic impact, and marketing effectiveness. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Zartico co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer Jay Kinghorn to gain a deeper understanding of the company.
Jay Kinghorn’s Background
Could you tell me more about your background? Kinghorn said:
“I’ve followed a non-traditional path that has always revolved around helping people adapt to change through innovation. Early in my career, I worked at the intersection of technology and photography, guiding professionals and companies through the transition from film to digital. I wrote books, led workshops, and consulted on digital strategy, which gave me a front-row seat to how entire industries transform.”
“That experience proved invaluable when I entered the tourism sector as Associate Director at the Utah Office of Tourism. There, I focused on building a strong digital presence, investing in content strategy, and advancing our measurement capabilities, which were all aimed at increasing tourism’s economic impact across the state. It was deeply rewarding to see our work directly benefit local communities. That role ultimately became the springboard for Zartico’s founding.”
Formation Of The Company
How did the idea for the company come together? Kinghorn shared:
“Working in a public-sector marketing role made it clear how essential it is to demonstrate the value of your efforts, especially when you’re stewarding taxpayer dollars. Yet unlike traditional e-commerce or product-based businesses, Destination Marketing Organizations don’t have direct transactional data to prove impact. That gap between investment and insight became my obsession.”
“We recognized that this wasn’t just a Utah problem – it was a universal challenge across the industry. We launched Zartico to bridge that gap and give marketers in place-based industries the tools they need to make smarter decisions, optimize performance, and clearly demonstrate their value.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Kinghorn reflected:
“What stands out the most are the stories we hear from our clients. How they’re using our insights to improve their marketing, advocate for their communities, and make decisions that directly enhance quality of life for both residents and visitors.”
“Seeing the creativity and tenacity of our users as they put our technology to work is incredibly fulfilling. It’s a powerful reminder that while we build the tools, it’s our clients who are driving change on the ground.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Kinghorn explained:
“At our core, Zartico delivers essential visitor intelligence for place-based marketers to accelerate their marketing and growth. We combine three foundational data sets – spending, lodging, and geolocation – and unify them within a single, easy-to-use platform. This integrated view empowers marketers to: Precisely identify their audience; Target them at the right time; Optimize campaigns in real time; and clearly communicate results with scientific precision. Whether you’re measuring the impact of paid search or adjusting content strategy based on changing visitor behavior, we seek to make performance measurable, actionable, and defensible.”
Challenges Faced
Have you faced any challenges in your sector of work recently? Kinghorn acknowledged:
“Launching our MVP in March 2020, just as the world shut down, was both a challenge and a catalyst. The pandemic underscored how critical real-time decision-making tools are, especially in volatile conditions. Today, we’re navigating another wave of economic and geopolitical uncertainty. Travel patterns are shifting again, and consumer behavior is anything but predictable. Our clients are staying ahead by leveraging our platform to adapt in near real-time, so they can adjust messaging, reallocate budgets, and build trust with stakeholders based on data, not guesswork.”
Evolution Of The Company’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Kinghorn noted:
“Our newest wave of technological innovation is Z5, our next-generation ZDOS. Z5 is easy to use with a modern and intuitive interface. It offers exciting and deeper behavioral insights of the visitor journey to reflect the real-world, right now. Campaign personas can be built and tracked in near real time to influence marketing and growth strategy outcomes.”
“We have also developed proprietary AI techniques for data normalization and quality enhancement, so our clients don’t just get more data, they get better data. These innovations are now patent-pending and foundational to how our clients confidently make strategic marketing decisions.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Kinghorn cited:
“We founded Zartico in mid-2019, and by early 2020 launched our first platform. Since then, we’ve rapidly expanded our capabilities. In 2022, we introduced our Website Attribution tool, enabling destinations to track online-to-offline visitor conversions with clarity. In September 2025 we launched LI Spatial Archive that unlocks a connected view into the inbound and domestic visitor journey across the US. This platform powers the entire Zartico ecosystem to surface Visitor Intelligence dynamically and more actionable than ever before for our clients.
“Each milestone reflects a deeper commitment to delivering actionable, trustworthy intelligence that empowers marketers to lead with confidence.”
Customer Success Stories
When asking Kinghorn about customer success stories, he highlighted:
“One of the most meaningful aspects of our work is when we support destinations in times of crisis. We’ve had the privilege of working with communities navigating recovery from devastating events, such as the floods in Yellowstone and the wildfires in Maui. In each case, Zartico has been used to inform planning, monitor progress, and coordinate recovery efforts with clarity and agility. Being able to contribute (even in a very small way) to helping these places recover and return to a sense of normalcy is incredibly rewarding.”
Funding
When asking Kinghorn about the company’s funding and revenue details, he revealed:
“While we’re a privately held company and don’t publicly disclose detailed revenue metrics, we’re proud of our rapid, sustainable growth. Since launching, we’ve expanded to serve hundreds of clients across the United States.”
“We’ve also continued to reinvest in the business, especially in engineering, data science, and AI, ensuring our clients benefit from the most advanced, scalable, and stable marketing intelligence platform on the market.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Kinghorn assessed:
“Our core market has grown significantly beyond destination marketing. Today, we’re focused on serving place-based industries broadly, which include travel, tourism, ski and resorts, live entertainment and attraction businesses, all of which face similar challenges around measuring marketing performance and proving value.”
“We estimate our TAM to be over $4 billion globally when you consider the broader MarTech and analytics budgets across these industries. And with increasing demand for marketing accountability and data transparency, this market is accelerating.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Kinghorn affirmed:
“Zartico is redefining what marketing intelligence means for place-based organizations. Our edge comes from three core differentiators:
- Depth of Data: We integrate and enrich three foundational data sets – spend, lodging, and geolocation – into one cohesive platform. No one else is doing this at our scale or precision.
- Actionable Marketing: Visitor Intelligence lets you do more than track—it lets you take control and use intelligence strategically to predict and influence measurable outcomes. By identifying behavior patterns across the travel journey, you can personalize in hyperdrive: build profiles, refine timing, messaging, and offers based on what people actually do—not what you assume they do.
- Trust Through Transparency: Our clients know exactly where the data comes from, how it’s modeled, and what it means. No black boxes, just verifiable, defensible insights that empower action.
It’s not about having more data, it’s about having the right data, structured in a way that helps marketers win.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future goals? Kinghorn emphasized:
“Long term, we see Zartico becoming the definitive intelligence layer for place-based marketing. A trusted partner for leading travel brands as they navigate, influence, and optimize visitor behavior across destinations and experiences.”
Additional Thoughts
Any other topics you would like to discuss? Kinghorn concluded:
“Just this… We’re at a moment where marketers are being asked to do more with less, and to prove it. That’s why our work at Zartico feels so urgent and so energizing. We’re not here to offer another analytics tool. We’re here to empower the next generation of marketing leaders with the clarity and confidence to act boldly, move faster, and win smarter. That’s what Zartico is all about.”
