Funds and Unicorn Status for Data Firm Starburst

Boston, MA-based 'analytics anywhere' firm Starburst has announced $100m in Series C funding, giving the three-year-old company a valuation of around $1.2 billion.

Starburst promises to make data fast and easy to access anywhere, and instantly actionable. This means avoiding the need for an organisation to move and centralize its data prior to analyzing it, which the firm says is 'unachievable' with businesses unable to wait for data movement and copies. Its technology is based on open source engine Presto, originally developed at Facebook in 2012 by four creators, all of whom now work for Starburst. In December, PrestoSQL was rebranded as Trino.

The round, which will be used for continued expansion of operations and business reach, adds to $64m from previous series, and was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Salesforce Ventures and existing investors Coatue and Index Ventures.

Starburst CEO and co-founder Justin Borgman says the company provides 'high-performance data warehousing analytics across data you never had access to before'. David George, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz comments: 'To succeed in today's digital economy, organizations need to break through the limits previously experienced when accessing their most critical asset - their data. With its disciplined approach, long-term vision, and workhorse mentality, Starburst is building the technology required to unlock the value of all data. By enabling organizations to access data wherever it resides, Starburst is providing the foundation for the future of the data-driven enterprise'.

Salesforce Ventures' participation in the round is driven by its ownership of data viz platform Tableau, whose users can quickly analyze and visualize data across multiple data sources without leaving the package, thanks to Starburst technology.

Web site: www.starburstdata.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.