Anybody who thinks the tech sector may be getting close to another economic bubble similar to 16 years ago had better inform the venture capital community. There’s still a lot of investment capital going into new ventures everywhere we look; just check eWEEK’s Tech Deals section every so often.
Machine learning-automation provider DataRobot is the latest such awardee. The startup revealed Feb. 11 that it has banked $33 million in Series B financing, bringing total investment in the company to more than $57 million. New Enterprise Associates led the round, which also included Accomplice, Intel Capital, IA Ventures, Recruit Strategic Partners, and New York Life.
DataRobot has developed a high-performance machine-learning automation software platform and a practical data-science education program that work together to provide a fast path to data science success for enterprises of all sizes.
The Boston-based company, which already has customers and offices established in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the United States, said it will use the additional funding for aggressive expansion in global sales, marketing, business development, engineering, R&D, and strategic initiatives at all locations.
DataRobot enables data scientists, statisticians, business analysts and software developers to build and implement predictive analytics applications using open-source and custom machine-learning algorithms. It works best in industries such as financial services, health care, life science and marketing services, among others.
DataRobot said its software “shrinks the data science project backlog” that is growing in many companies due to a serious shortage of employees with machine-learning analytics skills. The software identifies and uses the knowledge, experience and best practices of the world’s top data scientists and transfers that data through education and automation to users of all skill levels, the company said.
“We’ve seen the evolution of transformative advanced analytics technology within our portfolio, from Tableau turning data analysts into business analysts, to DataRobot turning business analysts into data scientists,” said Harry Weller, General Partner at NEA.
DataRobot was founded by—and is run by—applied data scientists, not serial entrepreneurs looking to catch a wave in a hot market, said Chris Lynch, a partner at Accomplice (formerly Atlas Venture). “DataRobot’s rapid ascent is a strong signal that machine learning has advanced from an elite technology to a powerful and differentiating business application,” Lynch said.