Toronto-based Secoda has secured major funding to scale its AI-powered data management platform.
The startup announced today $14 million USD ($19 million CAD) in Series A funding, led by Craft Ventures, which also led Secoda’s 2021 $2.75-million CAD seed round. Past investors Garage Capital and Y Combinator also provided follow-on funding, joined by new investor Abstract Ventures and several CEOs in the data space: Jordan Tigani (MotherDuck), Scott Breitenother (Brooklyn Data Co.), and Tristan Handy (dbt).
Secoda claims its new AI copilot can already automate 40 percent of its clients’ most common data requests.
The all-equity, all-primary round, which closed in June, places Secoda’s total funding to date at $16 million USD.
Secoda stands for “searchable company data,” and is exactly what the company provides, offering a platform that connects with data platforms like Snowflake, dbt, and Looker to catalog the data and metadata for employees.
Secoda’s platform queries the database for the metadata related to the information it’s trying to locate. The startup’s solution allows employees across the company to see the table description, who created it, when it was created, and add documentation so the next person can find the table, and understand its data.
The ample Series A round, at a time in which venture funding is expected to remain languid, might be attributed to Secoda’s growth: the company claims to have increased its global customer base fivefold over the past year (Secoda had around 100 customers at the end of 2021), managing over 100 million metadata resources. It counts Panasonic, Indigo, and Deezer among its clients.
Secoda’s headcount has mirrored its customer growth, also increasing fivefold from five to 25 employees since 2021.
“The company’s rapid growth is a testament to the strength of the team and their deep appreciation of their users’ needs,” Jeff Fluhr, co-founder and partner at Craft Ventures, said in a statement.
CEO and co-founder Etai Mizrahi told BetaKit at the time of its seed round that Secoda was “building a Google[-like] search for company data.” But since then conversational AI tools powered by large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT have surged in popularity, and the company has adjusted its product offering in response.
Related: Secoda secures $2.75 million for “Google-like” data search tool
Last week, Secoda publicly launched its Secoda AI copilot, which the company says is the first data discovery solution powered by LLMs. Integrated into Secoda’s search bar, the AI Assistant allows employees of any technical ability to get answers to their data questions using natural language prompts. The AI Assistant will also generate documentation and automate common data requests.
“Our mission is still aligned with creating a Google-like search experience, but it is enhanced with the AI Assistant,” Mizrahi told BetaKit via email.
The company says it will use its Series A funding to expand Secoda AI’s capabilities, but early results seem to be paying off: Secoda claims it can already automate 40 percent of its clients’ most common data requests, and has cut time spent on analyst onboarding and documentation by 50 percent and 90 percent, respectively.
“We think the AI features in Secoda are incredibly important to our business and customers, and will be a critical point of stickiness for our product,” Mizrahi said.
Feature image courtesy Secoda.