Boston startup DataRobot wrapped up a new $100 million funding round, injecting more cash into what was already one of the region’s biggest bets on machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Palo Alto, CA-based venture firms Meritech and Sapphire Ventures led the Series D investment, with DFJ Growth, New Enterprise Associates, and IA Ventures also participating in the deal, DataRobot said in an e-mail to Xconomy.
DataRobot said the additional backing puts the company’s total venture funding at $225 million.
Started in 2012, the company aims to automate much of the work of data scientists and make building predictive models easier for business users. Applications range from the expected—banks running risk algorithms to determine whether to issue a loan or a hospital determining risk for diabetes or heart disease—to the surprising, like helping the New York Mets choose draft picks.
Jai Das of Sapphire Ventures said DataRobot fills an important gap for companies eyeing the benefits of machine learning.
“Machine learning and A.I. is transforming business processes for companies of all types and sizes, but this can be difficult for organizations that don’t have data science teams or are having difficulty scaling up their data science teams,” Das said in a prepared statement.
Some of the company’s war chest has been spent snatching up other machine learning firms. In July, DataRobot acquired Nexosis, a machine learning company in Columbus, OH, and in 2017 the company purchased Nutonian, also located in the Boston area. And a significant chunk of the company’s cash has gone to internal research and development. CEO Jeremy Achin told Xconomy in early 2017 that DataRobot had spent $30 million of the company’s approximately $120 million stash on R&D.
