Cloud-service business intelligence provider Birst revealed that it has added a $65 million infusion of venture capital funding. The investment comes amidst growing market interest in predictive analytic tools that can be used by line-of-business employees.
Wellington Management Company LLP led the investment round and was joined by all existing investors, including Sequoia Capital, Hummer Winblad, DAG Ventures and Northgate Capital. The announcement was made March 17.
Including this investment, 11 year-old Birst has raised a total of $156 million. Birst will use the new funding to strengthen its international presence, drive sales and marketing and invest in improved products, CEO Jay Larson told eWEEK.
“We’re looking at building a bigger footprint globally, and we want to have more product and delivery people on board around the world,” Larson said.
Birst describes its BI software as delivering “accurate, actionable content in an intuitive, self-service environment.” It enables users to combine data from different source systems to get answers to business concerns in real time. When the questions change, the service adapts quickly to the new request.
Birst was built using open-source IT from Google, Facebook and other next-generation companies, Larson said, allowing it to scale while delivering high-level performance.
Birst customers include American Express, Aruba, Cisco Systems, Citrix, Jive, Kellogg’s, OpenText, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), and Samsung. The company competes with SAS, Oracle, Cognos, QlikView, BusinessObjects and Tableau, among others.
