Ratan Tata-backed data democratization platform Atlan has raised $2.5 million in a pre-Series A round led by Indian early-stage venture capital firm WaterBridge Ventures.
Founded in 2018 by Prukalpa Sankar and Varun Banka, Atlan helps teams in large enterprises collaborate smoothly on data projects by democratizing both internal and external data, along with automation of repetitive tasks.
“Companies are increasingly investing in data as a strategic asset and in setting up in-house data teams. However, they are struggling to overcome the friction that arises when diverse individuals need to collaborate, leading to project failure,” said Manish Kheterpal, managing partner, WaterBridge Ventures.
“The IPOs of companies, such as Slack and Zoom, are proof that we live in the era of consumerization of the enterprise. With its sharp focus on data democratization, Atlan is well-positioned to reimagine the future of how data teams work,” he added.
Besides WaterBridge, US’s 500 Startups, Singapore’s Hatcher and family offices, including the Bhagchandka family fund, also participated in this round. The company also counts Rajan Anandan, former Google India head and Sequoia Capital India managing director, as an existing investor.
Sankar and Banka had earlier built SocialCops, a data intelligence platform used by governments and businesses across the world in projects such as India’s National Data Platform, SDG monitoring in partnership with the UN, and gas subsidy programme Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. While working on these projects at SocialCops the founders discovered the friction data teams face. This led to the inception of Atlan.
“We are reimagining every human interaction with data. For instance, code has a profile on GitHub—what would a “profile” of data look like? What if you could share data as easily as a Google Sheets link, without worrying about the size or format? Or, what would a data versioning and approval workflow look like? What if data scientists could acquire external data within minutes, instead of the months it takes right now?” asked Banka.
The company works with more than 200 firms around the world, including Unilever, Milkbasket, Barbeque Nation, and WPP and GroupM. It plans to use the fresh capital to boost its global expansion and leadership hiring.
Source: Mint