Becoming data-driven is not easy for an organization, even though many want to be. Even organizations with data analytics teams often struggle to leverage data effectively. According to a recent Gartner survey, less than half of data and analytics leaders say their teams are effectively delivering value to their organizations.
German computer scientist Michael Berthold noticed this problem while he was a professor at the University of Konstanz and was consulting with many companies looking to adopt data analytics techniques. Berthold told TechCrunch that these companies often wanted a platform to help them process and analyze their data. So he and a few colleagues set out to build one.
“Our initial goal was to create a modular, extensible, and open data processing platform that could easily integrate different data loading, processing, transformation, analysis, and visual exploration modules without focusing on a specific application area,” says Berthold. “The software is designed to be professional grade and also serve as an integration platform for a variety of other data analysis projects.”
The resulting open-source platform, KNIME, eventually morphed into a VC-backed startup of the same name, with the aforementioned colleagues (Bernd Wiswedel and Thomas Gabriel) joining Berthold’s founding team.
KNIME currently has 400 customers that have purchased a fully managed version of the platform, including Audi, AMD, Lilly, Novartis, Bayer, Sanofi, Genentech, the FDA, P&G and Mercedes-Benz. Berthold said KNIME's annual recurring revenue has grown 30 to 40 percent each year since it was founded in 2008 and is now around €30 million ($32.35 million).
Check out KNIME's Workflow Orchestration Dashboard. Image credit:
KNIME's software is built on visual, no-code workflows designed to integrate with an organization's systems of record. Users can leverage KNIME to build pipelines to transform data, turn data into reports and visualizations, and compare one dataset to another, regardless of where the data is stored.
Through KNIME's Business Hub, companies can run, automate and deploy data workflows with optional governance and security features. The Hub also allows you to build an internal library of workflows so your teams can share and edit them as needed, as well as install workflows created by the broader KNIME community.
KNIME charges a steep fee for its services – a yearly license for the Business Hub starts at $39,900 – but customers seem happy to pay the fees, and the company is garnering interest from investors.
This week, KNIME announced that Invus has invested $30 million in the company, bringing KNIME's total funding to $50 million. Berthold said the proceeds will be used for product development, expanding KNIME's team from the current 250 to 275 by the end of the year, and customer acquisition efforts in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Asked how KNIME plans to stay competitive against data analytics rivals such as Dataiku, Alteryx, IBM and SAS, Berthold pointed to features such as KNIME's recently released AI assistant that helps users kick off data projects or add advanced functionality to existing data projects. KNIME also plans to expand its portfolio of software-as-a-service products, targeting small and medium-sized businesses on a pay-as-you-go basis, Berthold said.
“KNIME was approaching profitability in 2024, but with the additional investment we have chosen to invest and grow further in the coming years,” said Bertholdo. “We have seen a slowdown in technology, which has resulted in longer sales cycles and more difficult negotiations. In some cases budgets have been put on hold, but adoption of our open source analytics platform continues and KNIME is well positioned for the future.”