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Does Big Data Mean the End of Intuition? No Way

David Edelman [pictured], McKinsey partner leading Digital Mktng Strategy Practice writes: From data discovery through design and then delivery, great "intuition" will still drive the winners who shape the customer decision journey to their own advantage. Yes, you can optimize search terms, display ad placements, and personalized interactions, but that is no substitute for intuition, judgment, and innovation. More...

In US, EdgeSpring Raises $11M Funding; Unveils the World’s First Big Data Analytics Platform Built Expressly for the End User

EdgeSpring announces series A financing from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) and Lightspeed Ventures

SAN MATEO, Calif. – May 16, 2013 – EdgeSpring today announced general availability of its Business Intelligence and Analytics Platform designed from the ground up to empower users to rapidly derive business insights from data of any size or structure, without dependence on overburdened analysts and IT specialists. The company has raised a total of $11M in financing including a $9 million series A from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) and Lightspeed Ventures. EdgeSpring’s platform enables users to drive timely decisions by asking and easily answering first and second order questions across structured and semi-structured data, like never before.

“From day one, our vision was to democratize information access in the enterprise,” said Vijay Chakravarthy [pictured, left], founder and CEO of EdgeSpring. “We are thrilled to have a fast growing list of engaged customers, such as Equinix, Lithium, and Xactly, to name a few, validating our vision through their rapid adoption of EdgeSpring”

“EdgeSpring is a dramatically disruptive Business Intelligence platform,” said Brian Lillie [pictured, right], CIO of Equinix. “They have enabled us to rapidly build easy-to-use analytic apps that our users love.” More...

In Europe and APAC, Zettics Expands Global Footprint with New Offices

Seattle, WA – 8 May 2013 – Zettics, the leader in big data mobile analytics for operators, today announced global office expansion to address the growing worldwide demand of delivering impactful business results on mobile data usage. As part of Zettics’ expansion, Ken Parkinson [pictured, left] has joined the Company as Vice President of Sales for EMEA, and Paul Ash [pictured, center] joins as Vice President of Sales for APAC.

Commenting on the expansion, Sterling Wilson [pictured, right], President and CEO at Zettics said, “The explosive growth of data services in Europe and Asia has driven an increased demand for world-class big data mobile analytics. We are excited to open offices in London and Singapore to support cu stomers and accelerate growth in the regions. Ken and Paul bring deep industry expertise, and exceptional regional business development experience.” More...

In EMEA, AbsolutData Opens in Dubai, Ramps Up in UK

May 10, 2013 Posted at MrWeb.com: US-based analytics and research firm AbsolutData has opened an office in Dubai, where it has hired industry veteran Karan Dixit [pictured, left] as Head of the Middle East region. The firm has also expanded its UK leadership team with the appointment of three senior execs.

Kulpreet Singh [pictured, center], SVP of Middle East and European Markets at AbsolutData, comments: ‘The opening of our Dubai office is the first step to servicing organizations in the Middle East and North Africa with advanced analytical support.’ 

AbsolutData CEO Anil Kaul [pictured, right] adds: ‘The addition of a strong leadership team in the London office signals the importance we attach to these markets. This will also ensure that we have a local team to serve our customers better as well as build a stronger relationship with them.’ More...

In India and US, Wipro Makes Minority Investment in Leading Global Big Data Science and Predictive Analytics Company, Opera Solutions

Bangalore, India and Jersey City, NJ, USA - May 07, 2013: Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT) today announced that it has signed an agreement to enter into a strategic partnership and take a minority position in Opera Solutions, LLC, a leading global Big Data science company. Wipro will invest USD 30 Million in the company, which is privately held and headquartered in Jersey City, NJ.

"This strategic partnership with Opera Solutions will help us further extend our leadership in the Big Data analytics space, as it combines Opera Solutions' machine learning expertise, pre-discovered predictive Signals and algorithms with Wipro's proven domain and technology expertise combined with Global Delivery Model to create industry-specific Big Data analytics solutions." said K.R Sanjiv [pictured, left], Senior Vice President and Global Head, Analytics and Information Management, Wipro.

Arnab Gupta [pictured, right], Chief Executive Officer of Opera Solutions said, "We are delighted to be entering into a strategic partnership with Wipro, which is the partner of choice for global businesses seeking to leverage information as a strategic asset to improve business outcomes and win in the marketplace. Both Wipro and we see a great fit between Wipro's ability to deliver end-to-end services and Opera Solutions' ability to scale and industrialize Big Data science." More...

In US, Skytree Secures $18 Million in Funding to Fuel Explosive Growth in the Big Data Analytics Market

Oversubscribed Series A was led by U.S. Venture Partners, with participation from UPS® and Industry Leader Scott McNealy

SAN JOSE, Calif., April 30, 2013 — Skytree® The Machine Learning Company® today announced that it has closed $18 million in Series A funding with U.S. Venture Partners (USVP) as the lead investor. USVP was joined by a new investor syndicate that includes: UPS (NYSE: UPS), the world’s largest package delivery company, and Scott McNealy, co-founder and former CEO of Sun Microsystems and Chairman of Wayin.

“A new era has dawned, in which enterprises are demanding the advanced, real-time business insights that only Machine Learning can provide. Skytree’s team, technology, and customer traction have made Skytree the company to beat in applying Machine Learning for Advanced Analytics,” said Rick Lewis [pictured, left], General Partner, USVP.

The best team wins,” said Martin Hack [pictured, right], President, CEO and Co-Founder of Skytree. “We couldn’t be happier. The new financing will help us to aggressively grow our engineering and sales efforts in response to the expanding demand for our product”. More...

In US, Actian Acquires MPP Big Data Market Leader ParAccel

Acquisition Adds Amazon, The Royal Bank of Scotland, OfficeMax and MicroStrategy to Rapidly Expanding Global Big Data Customer Portfolio

Redwood City, Calif. – April 25, 2013 – Actian Corp. (“Actian”), a next-generation leader in big data management, today announced the immediate acquisition of ParAccel, a leader in high-performance analytics. The acquisition further strengthens Actian’s unique position as a major global player with one of the most powerful infrastructure portfolios to deliver business value from big data.

“Today’s software will fail to cope with complexities of big data,” said Steve Shine [pictured, left], CEO of Actian. “The Actian software portfolio, which is specifically designed to fully exploit modern hardware architectures, arms organizations with an unmatched single platform to connect to any data, analyze it at scale for relevance and take action to turn big data into business value.”

“ParAccel is being used by many of the world’s leading companies including Amazon, The Royal Bank of Scotland, OfficeMax and MicroStrategy to set them apart from their competition through analytics,” said Chuck Berger [pictured, right], CEO of ParAccel. “With Actian, they have immediate access to a broader portfolio of solutions to turn their data into value.” More...

In US, RetailNext Secures $15 Million in Growth Financing Led by StarVest Partners

Nokia Growth Partners and Commerce Ventures Make Investments to Help Fuel Applied Big Data in Physical Retail

SAN JOSE, Calif. – April 30, 2013 – RetailNext Inc., the leader in Applied Big Data for brick-and-mortar retail, today announced the completion of $15 million in Series C financing led by new investor StarVest Partners. All existing investors, including August Capital, participated in the round, which also added strategic investments from Nokia Growth Partners and Commerce Ventures. Timed with the new investment, Laura Sachar [pictured, left], General Partner, StarVest Partners, joined RetailNext’s Board of Directors and John Gardner, Managing Partner, Nokia Growth Partners (NGP), joined as Board Observer. This round brings the total capital raised by RetailNext to $29 million.

“Considering that ninety-five percent of purchasing still takes place in the brick-and-mortar channel, it is not surprising that we’ve seen a strong appetite among retailers to collect the factual knowledge about shopper behavior that can directly lead to bottom-line improvement. This rapid adoption is driving more than triple year-over-year revenue growth for the company,” said Alexei Agratchev [pictured, right], CEO of RetailNext. More...

In US, BlueKai and Big Blue Team Up Within IBM's Digital Data Exchange

Venerable Technology Company Integrates with BlueKai's Data Management Platform for Cross-Channel Data Intelligence

Cupertino, Calif., April 30, 2013 – BlueKai, the only end-to-end SaaS solution for data management, analysis and activation, today announced a partnership with IBM (NYSE: IBM), in which BlueKai will integrate with IBM Digital Data Exchange (DDX), part of the company's Digital Analytics suite. Effective immediately, the partnership connects customers using IBM's tag management solution with BlueKai's DMP data intelligence across offline, online and mobile channels. IBM DDX is a tag management solution that simplifies the management of IBM and third-party page tags, enabling clients to deploy and maintain website pages with minimal support from IT.

As data-driven marketing transforms the way brands reach and connect with audiences, IBM's partnership with BlueKai marks a watershed moment in the industry as it underscores how traditional marketing-related technology vendors are turning to innovative upstarts to help drive better engagement and ROI in a highly digital and fragmented media landscape.

"Big data is changing the game for marketers as big companies are spending real dollars on data-driven marketing technologies," said Omar Tawakol [pictured], CEO of BlueKai. More...

New Generation of Startups Arrive to Replace the Data Scientist

Data Tech Firms Emerge To Serve Smaller Clients And Venture Capitalists Want In.

Kate Kaye [pictured], Data Reporter at AdAge writes: Venture capital dollars are pouring into a new class of startups that provide data services to small and mid-sized companies. Their goal, in a nutshell, is to automate tasks once assigned to a data scientist or teams of technologists, making big-data capabilities possible for smaller companies. More...