Big Data Startup Qubole Raises $25 Mn From Singtel Innov8, Harmony Partners And Existing Investors

Big Data startup Qubole has raised $25 Mn in a funding round led by Singtel Innov8 and Harmony Partners. The round also saw the participation of existing investors Charles River Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Norwest Venture Partners and Institutional Venture Partners.

The investment from Singtel Innov8 and Harmony Partners will enable the startup to strengthen its presence in the Asia Pacific region.

Commenting on the fundraise, Punit Chiniwalla, Senior Director of Singtel Innov8, said “There is a significant opportunity for big data in the Asia Pacific region. Qubole makes it easy for enterprises to access best-in-class analytics for quicker, more accurate decision making in a cost-efficient way. We are excited to partner with Qubole and their incredibly talented team.”

With a central office in Bengaluru and a sales office in Singapore, Qubole is looking to leverage APAC’s status as a hub for big data, AI and machine learning talent. According to Ashish Thusoo, co-founder and CEO of Qubole, the newly-secured funding from Singtel Innov8 and Harmony Partners will be utilised to extend the company’s reach across Southeast Asia, including India, Australia and Singapore.

In a related development, the big data-as-a-service company has onboarded Kevin Kennedy as its new COO and Mohit Bhatnagar as the Senior VP of Products.

Thusoo added, “Qubole is now at a pivotal growth point. Our sales momentum and product innovation in the last year have propelled us to the next stage of our global expansion. As big data market demands continue to grow and evolve, this strategic investment and the addition of Kevin and Mohit to our leadership team position Qubole as the leader in helping enterprises around the world successfully meet their big data project goals.”

Qubole: Harnessing The Potential Of Asia Pacific To Clock 100% Y-o-Y Revenue Growth

Founded in 2013 by Ashish Thusoo and Joydeep Sen Sarma, Qubole, empowers both developers and non-developers to access big data generated by their companies to gain actionable insights at a cost-effective rate.

Headquartered in Santa Clara, the startup currently processes 750+ petabytes of data each month on its cloud-based big data analytics platform. Qubole runs on the largest public clouds such as Amazon Web Services, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and Microsoft Azure. The company is in the process of expanding its cloud-agnostic platform to integrate with additional cloud providers.

Its clientele includes tech enterprises like Autodesk, Lyft, Samsung and Under Armour, among others. The big data startup’s flagship product, Qubole Data Service (QDS), removes the burden of maintaining infrastructure and enables customers to focus on their data. QDS is a self-learning platform that helps enhance agility and flexibility of businesses.

QDS provides IT organisations with the option to use cloud infrastructure to provide users with self-service access to data while eliminating the capital expenditures associated with maintaining hardware and hiring skilled support to manage that infrastructure.

The company claims to clock 100% Y-o-Y revenue growth. Prior to the current funding round, the big data platform raised $30 Mn in a Series C round led by Institutional Venture Partners along with existing investors CRV, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Norwest Venture Partners in January 2016.

Thusoo stated at the time, “This additional investment will enable us to expand our efforts in sales, marketing and product development while continuing to serve our current customers with excellence.” Earlier, in December 2014, Qubole secured $13 Mn from Norwest Venture Partners.

The Widening Scope Of Big Data In India

Globally, revenues from the big data and analytics industry are expected to soar from $130.1 Bn in 2016 to $203 Bn by 2020 growing at a CAGR of 11.7%, as per a report by International Data Corporation (IDC).

According to a study carried out by Analytics India Magazine and AnalytixLabs titled ‘Analytics India Industry Study 2017’, the sector is currently generating $2.03 Bn in yearly revenues in India alone. Growing at a compound annual growth rate of 23.8%, the market for big data and analytics is slated to almost double by 2020.

Several startups in this segment have raised funding over the last 12 months. In August 2016, healthcare-based big data startup Innovaccer picked up $15.6 Mn in Series A led by Westbridge Capital Partners with participation by other angel investors. In the same month, Gurugram-based Cuberoot Technologies, a data-driven technology company, raised nearly $500K from undisclosed investors.

Towards the beginning of this year, Mumbai-based IntelligenceNODE, raised $733K (INR 5 Cr) from NBFC firm BlackSoil Capital, as part of its third disclosed funding round. Later in April, digital payments giant Paym backed big data-driven healthcare startup QorQL.

Asia Pacific, in particular India and Australia, holds immense potential when it comes to big data and analytics. With the funding from Singtel Innov8 and Harmony Partners, Qubole is looking to harness this potential to carve out a market for itself.