Participated · Equity · Nov 2018

ClearSky Data delivers on-demand primary storage that includes offsite backup and disaster recovery as a single service, using a patented edge-based approach to optimize data across its lifecycle. Its service offers a single durable copy of data accessible anywhere, aiming to combine cloud durability with edge performance and flash speeds. The company says enterprises consume their offering as a service to eliminate traditional backup, replication and DR overhead. ClearSky is expanding its U.S. footprint in partnership with Equinix and has recently grown its executive team, appointing Roger Cummings as chief revenue officer. Customers named in the article include Partners HealthCare, Massachusetts General Hospital, Nuance Communications and Unitas Global. ClearSky reports strong commercial momentum, more than doubling year-to-date revenue over its last full fiscal year. ClearSky Data offers a multi-tier, fully managed hybrid data-management solution that places an appliance in a customer data center (or in AWS/Azure), a nearby co-location tier within ~120 miles, and Amazon S3 for cold storage. Its software and algorithms automatically move data between tiers based on usage patterns, policy and customer requirements to reduce cost and latency. The platform also handles de-duplication, backup and disaster recovery. ClearSky came out of stealth in August and is targeting early-adopter customers rather than traditional storage buyers. The company said some early beta customers are converting to paid customers but declined to disclose specific customer counts. ClearSky is based in Boston, operates co-location facilities in Boston, Philadelphia and Las Vegas, and has about 40 employees. Management plans to use the new funding to add personnel and expand the business to additional locations domestically and internationally. ClearSky Data offers a three‑tiered, fully managed storage service that places hot data on an on‑premises appliance, warm data in nearby co‑location facilities, and archival data in Amazon S3. Software algorithms determine data placement and the service includes deduplication, backup, and disaster‑recovery capabilities. The company likens its architecture to a content delivery network, serving data from the location that minimizes latency. ClearSky partners with Digital Realty to provide co‑location within a 120‑mile radius of customers and claims its approach costs approximately one third of a traditional storage solution. The company is based in downtown Boston, has about 30 employees and roughly a dozen beta customers. It has been operating for about 18 months and recently disclosed $12 million in funding led by General Catalyst and Highland Capital.

Led · Equity · Sep 2018

Tamr builds machine-learning-driven data products that deliver clean, curated, and continuously updated data to data consumers through customers' cloud data warehouses. Its platform includes enrichment capabilities to add third-party data to improve data quality, completeness, and value. Tamr positions its data products to support analytics and AI by providing accessible, trustworthy, high-quality data. The company says customers using Tamr gain cleaner, more complete data for use in other applications, including Alteryx. Tamr announced an investment from Alteryx via Alteryx Ventures intended to further enable development of its data products. Tamr builds an enterprise data-unification platform called Unify that applies machine learning supplemented by customers' knowledge to unify and prepare data across myriad silos. The company's patented software and agile data mastering and classification solutions target large-scale data curation challenges that traditional ETL and MDM products struggle with. Tamr says its approach is increasingly foundational to large enterprises' data management and digital-transformation efforts and cites customers such as GE, Toyota, Thomson Reuters, and GSK. The company is led by co-founder and CEO Andy Palmer with co-founding involvement from Turing Award winner Mike Stonebraker. Recent financing activity is enabling continued rapid growth to meet increased enterprise demand for data unification. Tamr develops a patented enterprise data unification software platform that applies machine learning supplemented by human expertise to unify and prepare data across silos. The platform was commercialized from research on the Data Tamer system by Turing Award winner Dr. Michael Stonebraker and co-inventors. Tamr positions its offerings as a foundational component of DataOps to help large enterprises accelerate digital transformation. The company cites a record start to 2018 and says demand from Global 2000 customers is fueling rapid growth. Customers mentioned include GE, Toyota, Thomson Reuters, and GSK. The new financing is intended to enable continued rapid growth and expand adoption of Tamr's data unification solutions. Tamr provides a data unification software platform that combines machine learning with human expertise to unify and prepare data across myriad silos and deliver business-changing insights. Co‑founded by Andy Palmer and Mike Stonebraker and based in Boston, MA, the company has worked with large enterprises to unify disparate enterprise data. Tamr began working with GE in 2014 to unify data from more than 270 separate ERP systems and now processes 20 million transactions representing $60B in direct spend. Its solution delivers unified, clean supplier data to users on the front lines at GE and is used across multiple GE business units for tasks including B2B customer record management. Customers named in the article include GE, Toyota, Thomson Reuters, GSK, HP, Philips and Amgen. The company intends to use the new funds to accelerate product development and go-to-market initiatives. Tamr builds software that discovers, catalogs and unifies disparate databases, spreadsheets and logs across enterprises to give visibility into what data a company holds. Its core product creates a central catalogue and links data for use cases like supplier insight and a 360-degree view of customers. CEO Andy Palmer has compared Tamr’s potential enterprise impact to what Google did for the web. Engineers currently work closely with customers, and the company plans to use new funding to hire additional engineers, sales and marketing staff and to train third-party partners. Customers include Toyota, GE, Novartis and investor Thomson Reuters. Tamr has about 55 employees across Cambridge and San Francisco and expects to grow to roughly 100 employees within 18 months; total funding to date is $42.4M following the latest round.

Led · Equity · Jul 2015

SemaConnect supplies integrated charging hardware and cloud-based software that creates a connected network across its stations. The company has sold over 10,000 smart charging stations nationwide and serves commercial, residential, and fleet customers, including municipal, parking, multifamily, hotel, office and retail sites. Its platform is designed to help site hosts demonstrate sustainability commitments and add a modern amenity for tenants, employees, and guests while maximizing station performance through smart engineering and software controls. SemaConnect lists partnerships and customers such as Gilbarco Veeder-Root, CBRE, Electrify America, JLL, Hines, Greystar, Cisco Systems, and Standard Parking. The company plans to expand further among its current commercial, residential, and fleet customer base and to grow the SemaConnect team with support from new investors. Founder and CEO Mahi Reddy and COO Mark Pastrone will continue to lead the business and retain meaningful equity stakes. SemaConnect was founded in 2008 and is based in Bowie, Md. SemaConnect builds and operates electric vehicle charging stations and a networked management platform for commercial and residential property owners. The company has deployed thousands of stations across the United States and Canada and has deployments with customers including CBRE, JLL, Hines, Greystar, Cisco Systems, and Standard Parking. Led by CEO Mahi Reddy, the leadership team includes Mark Pastrone (VP, Business Development), Kelly McDermott (Director of Marketing) and Don MacNeil (Director of Sales). SemaConnect has expanded into twelve local U.S. sales and service field offices, including Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, San Diego, Houston, Orlando, Atlanta, Chicago, Washington DC, Long Island and Boston. Financially, the company completed a $15M third round of financing. It plans to use the proceeds to expand sales, marketing, customer service and project management resources.