By Manya Saini
(Reuters) – Data analytics firm Starburst said on Wednesday it had more than doubled its valuation to $3.35 billion after a funding round led by venture capital firm Alkeon Capital.
Other investors in the $250 million Series D round included Andreessen Horowitz and Coatue Management.
Starburst intends to use the fresh funds to ramp up hiring, tap into new international markets and invest in the development of products, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Justin Borgman told Reuters.
“We’re currently active in Europe and North America (Canada and U.S.) but we’re looking to expand into Asia-Pacific this year,” Borgman said.
Boston, Massachusetts-based Starburst provides data-driven insights to help enterprises improve performance, lower data storage costs and detect fraud. It counts freelancing platform Upwork, apparel retailer Marks & Spencer, and media giant Condé Nast among its customers.
Altimeter Capital, B Capital Group, Index Ventures and Salesforce Ventures also participated in the new funding round.
Data analytics and security have become major areas of interest for venture capital firms as companies expand their digital footprint to tap the pandemic-triggered shift to online work and learning.
Abhi Arun, managing partner at Alkeon Capital, told Reuters he expects companies to continue the migration to cloud and spend on data analytics even after COVID-19, which will help Starburst sustain its pandemic-fueled growth.
“In our view, in 2022, the spend on data analytics, data ecosystem and business insights tools are actually going to be larger than prior year so we think this year is going to be an even higher growth year for Starburst,” Arun said.
The company was valued at $1.2 billion https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210106005234/en/Starburst-Secures-100M-Series-C-Financing-To-Turn-Data-Analytics-On-Its-Head-Led-By-Andreessen-Horowitz last year after a $100 million series C funding round led by Silicon Valley-based Andreessen Horowitz.
(Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
