Big Data App Startup WibiData Raises Millions
WibiData is betting once enterprises start getting a handle on Big Data management, their attention will turn toward applications that unlock the profit-boosting potential that's hiding in those vast stores of digital information.
The San Francisco-based Big Data application management firm is succeeding in turning venture capitalists on to its vision. The company just raised $15 million in a Series B round of funding headed by Canaan Partners. Google's Eric Schmidt and New Enterprise Associates, both existing investors, also participated in the round.
It's time Big Data applications take their rightful place in the enterprise business software hierarchy, according to WibiData founder and CEO Christophe Bisciglia. “Big Data Applications are transformative, mission-critical solutions that companies across industries must deploy in order to stay competitive,” he said in a statement announcing the news.
WibiData specializes in developing Big Data applications for industry verticals. Current customers include Opower, RichRelevance, Mobile Posse and Atlassian.
The startup's applications are based on Kiji, an open source project that supports the rapid development and deployment of scalable, real-time Big Data applications on Apache HBase, the Hadoop database. “Four pillars” — content personalization, search relevance, predictive recommendations and anomaly detection — make up WibiData's approach toward architecting Big Data apps.
Bisciglia explained in a company blog post that WibiData's technology “provides application level, Big Data solutions that enterprises need to adapt to changing customer behavior in real time, at scale and across platforms.” WibiData also addresses the Big Data skills gap that threatens the industry, he claims.
“As the Big Data skills gap widens, WibiData is creating Big Data Applications that let organizations take advantage of their data without having to hire across the entire technology stack. Our solutions address the varying business challenges different industries face when it comes to data integration, analysis and predictive modeling in ways that are familiar and accessible to existing staff,” wrote Bisciglia.
The added capital will be used to grow the company. In keeping with the company's open source roots, some of the money may end up boosting select open source efforts. “With this funding, we will continue to hire incredible people, create exciting new products and contribute to amazing open source projects,” Bisciglia said.
Pedro Hernandez is a contributing editor at Enterprise Apps Today and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ecoINSITE.
Pedro Hernandez contributes to Enterprise Apps Today, and 11Press, the technology network. He was previously the managing editor of Internet.com, an IT-related website network. He has expertise in Smart Tech, CRM, and Mobile Tech, Helping Banks and Fintechs, Telcos and Automotive OEMs, and Healthcare and Identity Service Providers to Protect Mobile Apps.
