Highlights:

  • Data intelligence is becoming increasingly significant because of the growth of the data-driven culture and the constant increase in data volume in most enterprises.
  • The revelation of this funding appears to go against the economic downturn, hurting most technology companies.

Satyen Sangani, CEO and co-founder of leading data intelligence vendor Alation, believes that data intelligence has many elements, including master data management, privacy data management, reference data management, data transformation, data quality, data observability, and more.

Data intelligence is becoming increasingly significant because of the growth of the data-driven culture and the constant increase in data volume in most enterprises. IDC estimates that the data integration and intelligence software market is worth over USD 7.9 billion and will reach USD 11.6 billion in the next four years.

Alation, established in 2012 and working to develop a strategy to create an ecosystem centered on data intelligence, revealed that it had raised USD 123 million in a series E fundraising round. With this, Alation’s valuation has increased by nearly 50% to surpass USD 1.7 billion. It follows five consecutive quarters of accelerated yearly growth, including most recently reaching USD 100 million in annual recurring revenue.

A data-driven culture needs data intelligence.

The revelation of this funding appears to go against the economic downturn, which has been hurting most technology companies. Sangani claims that the reason behind this is Alation’s strategy.

Sangani said, “Our research shows that building a data-driven culture is the #1 priority in the C-suite. Alation helps customers adopt and evolve a data culture — through data search and discovery, data literacy, and data governance.”

Alation has successfully grown its ARR and workforce and is trying to diversify its product line with new products, aggressive hiring, go-to-market tactics, and acquisitions. Sangani cites numerous dynamics driving the data intelligence sector ahead and claims that it all boils down to “having the best product in a fast-growing market.

First, data distribution between on-premises and cloud-based systems. Second, the distribution of people worldwide. Third, enormous innovation in data with the evolution of modern data stack. Fourth, there are privacy laws in every country, and finally, there is an increase in data.

In the midst of all of this, Sangani continued, businesses must be more data-driven and empower their teams to promote a data culture. Organizations require high-quality data to make wise decisions in trying circumstances.

To achieve this goal, Alation’s technique does not involve acquiring a single box of every component that makes up data intelligence. For Sangani, connectivity and integration are key to the future of data intelligence.

Sangani added, “Vendors that are jack-of-all-trades, but masters of none, promise everything and succeed at little. Similarly, point products achieve limited success but only serve to create data silos that our customers are trying to avoid. Connectivity will be a focus and critical to our future success.”

Creating an environment

A major milestone achieved by Alation is that less than one percent of private software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies achieve, and the firm is proud of that performance, said Sangani. However, he added that the primary factor is that scale drives network effects. Customers want to put their money where their mouths are, and other ISVs and SIs wish to put their money where their customers’ money is.

The Open Data Quality Initiative of Alation serves as an illustration of its strategy. Customers are embracing the integration pattern widely, and the company is growing its list of partners that have made integration investments.

The ecosystem approach applies to Alation investors. Thoma Bravo, Sanabil Investments, and Costanoa Ventures are the primary investors in the series E fundraising. Databricks Ventures is a new investor.

In this round, Thoma Bravo is a new investor. It is a top software investment company focusing on data-centric technologies and has great knowledge about the data intelligence market with investments in Qlik, Talend, Starburst, Embarcadero, Precisely, and Infogix. According to Sangani, the company is a financial investor but has adopted a long-term, strategic perspective on the data intelligence industry.

Alation sees Databricks as one of the biggest data platforms on the market and one that many of its clients use as strategic investors. This is developing the long-standing alliance between the two businesses. According to Sangani, it follows a pattern that Alation has observed with other vital investors, including HP, Snowflake, and Salesforce.

Dell Technologies Capital, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Icon Ventures, Queensland Investment Corporation, Riverwood Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, and Union Grove are just a few of the existing and additional investors who took part. Alation has raised a total of USD 340 million.