In 2014, Jason Frantz and Rob Woolen co-founded Sigma Computing, a platform that overlays data stored in data platforms such as Snowflake and Google BigQuery with a spreadsheet-like interface for data visualization and analysis. Established. The two former software engineers used Sigma to tackle what they perceived as the unwieldy data challenges faced by large enterprises: unwieldy tools and unmanageable data stores.
In Oracle's 2023 survey, a majority of business leaders say they don't believe their employers' current approaches to data and analytics are meeting their needs. 77% say the dashboards and graphs they get are irrelevant to the decisions they need to make, and 72% say the sheer volume of data and lack of trust in that data impedes decision-making. I admit that there is. absolutely.
“After recognizing the huge advances in cloud data infrastructure over the past decade, Jason and Rob recognized a gap in the market,” Sigma Computing CEO Mike Palmer said in an interview with TechCrunch. he said. “At Sigma, we are building a data workspace for everyone, where teams can analyze data in spreadsheets, build business intelligence in the form of dashboards and reports, and integrate data into the enterprise's data warehouse. You can create data workflows and applications that never leave the house.”
Initially (in 2014), Sigma only offered a basic set of business intelligence and analytics tools to connect to customers' external databases. But the company, which Mr. Franz and Mr. Uhlen founded while they were entrepreneurs at Sutton Hill Ventures (Mr. Uhlen comes from Salesforce's Work.com organization), has grown rapidly from there.
Today, Sigma's product suite consists of tools that allow users to analyze data “on the fly” in databases containing up to billions of records. Customers can use the platform to build dashboards, reports, workflows, and apps without data ever leaving its source.
“We are champions of what we call ‘massively multiplayer business intelligence.’ It's a dynamic environment that can be leveraged in many ways,” Palmer said.
Sigma offers a variety of tools built for business intelligence and data analytics workloads. Image credit: Sigma Computing
The go-to-market strategy has been successful.
Palmer said Sigma's revenue has increased 100% year-over-year for four consecutive years with a customer base of about 1,000 companies. These numbers are pleasing investors. On Thursday, Sigma closed a $200 million Series D funding round co-led by Avenir Growth Capital and Spark Capital, valuing the company at $1.5 billion and increasing its 2021 valuation ($300 million raised). 60% higher than the previous year).
Palmer believes the key to Sigma's success in the face of stiff competition from Tableau and Microsoft's Power BI is its continued focus on creating data analysis tools with low barriers to entry.
“Existing business intelligence platforms were primarily designed for 'super analysts,' individuals who work within business units and understand the intricacies of enterprise-wide data operations,” said Palmer. . “Business intelligence was, and still is, a huge hurdle for most people. I believed there was a huge market of people out there.”
It probably doesn't hurt that the market for business intelligence and analytics tools is huge and growing at a very healthy pace. According to market research firm Precedence Research, the business intelligence sector alone will grow from $27.24 billion in 2022 to $54.9 billion by 2023.
With Sigma's massive war chest ($581 million in venture capital) and approximately 450 staff, the company plans to expand in the U.S. and internationally and invest in AI. Specifically, we enable users to ask questions about their systems through integration with generative AI platforms like OpenAI. Company data.
“We believe that data volume, speed of change, governance, and even security requirements will increasingly centralize data into systems like Databricks and Snowflake,” Palmer said. “For competitive companies to work synchronously and rapidly, they must provide their employees with raw, live data and the tools to build and communicate together. They need a platform that allows them to access that data.”
Snowflake Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures, D1 Ventures, Xn Ventures, and Altimeter Capital also participated in Sigma's Series D.