Atlan Raises $16M to Revolutionize Data Collaboration

Atlan Secures $16 Million Series A Funding for Data Collaboration Platform

The burgeoning startup Atlan, developer of a SaaS data collaboration platform, has successfully attracted investment from prominent sources as it expands its reach into international markets.

Series A Funding Details

Atlan announced on Tuesday the completion of a $16 million Series A financing round. Insight Partners spearheaded the investment.

Notable investors participating in the round include Bob Muglia, former CEO of Snowflake, alongside Stitch founders Bob Moore and Jake Stein.

Auren Hoffman, founder of Safegraph and Liveramp, and Akshay Kothari, co-founder and COO of Notion, also contributed.

Existing investors, Sequoia Surge and Waterbridge Ventures, reaffirmed their support.

Global Presence and Data Stack

Founded in India, Atlan now boasts teams distributed across the U.S., Singapore, the Philippines, and Nigeria.

The company’s core offering, its namesake data stack, consolidates data from diverse internal and external sources – including platforms like Snowflake and Databricks – into a unified interface.

This centralized system facilitates seamless collaboration among data teams.

Addressing Data Collaboration Inefficiencies

Atlan’s foundational principle centers on the inefficiencies inherent in how most enterprises manage data.

These inefficiencies stem from the varied skill sets and preferred tools of the individuals involved: data scientists, analysts, engineers, and business users.

Consequently, teams often encounter difficulties in locating the necessary data at the appropriate time, hindering collaborative efforts.

Origins in SocialCops

The founders of Atlan, Prukalpa Sankar and Varun Banka, encountered these challenges firsthand during their previous venture, SocialCops.

SocialCops was instrumental in numerous data science initiatives for social good, including the development of India’s National Data Platform and SDG global monitoring in partnership with the United Nations.

Atlan initially emerged as an internal tool designed to streamline data team workflows at SocialCops, before being released for broader adoption.

Vision for Data Sharing

“Our goal is to redefine how people interact with data,” stated Sankar.

“We envision a future where data assets can be shared as effortlessly as a Google Docs link, and where data usage metrics are as readily available as website traffic data in Google Analytics.”

Industry Recognition

Teddie Wardi, managing director at Insight Partners, draws parallels between Atlan’s impact and the essential roles played by Figma for design teams and GitHub for engineering teams.

Market Focus and Growth

In a TechCrunch interview, Sankar revealed that over 60% of Atlan’s current clientele is based in the U.S., and this market will be a primary focus for future expansion.

While the specific number of clients remains undisclosed, the company reports a 16-fold increase in growth over the past two quarters.

Notable Clients

Atlan’s client roster includes prominent organizations such as Unilever, Scripps Health, Postman, and Techstyle.

Techstyle, a leading membership-based fashion firm encompassing brands like Fabletics, Savage X Fenty, JustFab, FabKids, and ShoeDazzle, is among its customers.

Client Testimonials

“We sought a solution to democratize data access and reduce reliance on centralized support for individual analyst inquiries as we implemented our modern data platform,” explained Danielle Boeglin Ragan, vice president of Data & Analytics at Techstyle.

“Existing solutions were designed for outdated systems, whereas Atlan offered a collaborative, bottom-up approach with seamless integrations with Snowflake and Tableau, enabling rapid deployment.”

Future Plans

Banka stated that the newly acquired capital will be allocated to expanding the team, specifically in marketing, sales, and customer success, bringing the total headcount to 40.

Data Context and Democratization

“Atlan provides the data team with essential context regarding data assets,” said Prudhvi Vasa, analytics leader at Postman.

“It supports our vision of data democratization, enabling organization-wide data analysis and informed decision-making, and facilitates data awareness across the entire organization.”