Alteryx, an Irvine, Calif.-based startup trying to be a hybrid of Tableau and statistical analysis software like SAS or R, raised $12 million in an extended Series A round. Newcomer firm Toba Capital led the round, with existing investor SAP Capital also contributing.
President and COO George Mathew says the company’s mission is to be a one-stop shop for statistical analysis. It wants to be the one place where analysts and data scientists can blend their data, model it on it and then visualize it. Often, he noted, that same process might require two or three separate products.
Another feature that Alteryx hopes will set it apart is its collection of prebuilt models in what the company calls an analytics gallery. Users can share their own work or find models others have built for tackling similar issues. Alteryx also offers up its own pre-formatted datasets for analysis, often public data such as the U.S. census.
“The canvas for creating an analytics application should never be blank for the analyst when they’re getting started,” Mathew explained. They often need to understand external data as well as their internal data, so Alteryx’s software gives them easy access to it.
Because it’s based on the R statistical-programming language, heavy R user Walmart has been able to transition some workloads to Alteryx when employees need an easier user experience. McDonald’s uses it to analyze data about franchisees and about its growth strategy in China, and Bloomin’ Brands (parent of company of Outback Steakhouse and other restaurants) is using it to help build menus that take into account what diners in various parts of the country prefer to eat. Nine of the 10 leading top wireless providers providers are also users, Mathew said, trying to blend actual call data with traditional sources such as customer service data.
Mathew compares Alteryx’s current growth as analogous to software-as-a-service applications like Salesforce.com in the CRM space, or even Tableau in the traditional business-intelligence space. In a business world increasingly driven by at least the idea of big data, one might expect any vendor pushing a more consumer-like purchase and consumption experience to get interest from companies tired of dealing with legacy software or never wanting to experience it in the first place.
“The disruption that’s happening is creating a new space for ourselves,” Mathew said, “without having to go head to head, frankly, with the a status quo out there.”
Feature image courtesy of Shutterstock user ramcreations.
