Austin tech’s latest major acquisition is keeping it local. Today, data.world announced the acquisition of fellow Austinite Capsenta for an undisclosed amount.
Founded in 2015, data.world helps companies of all sizes build “data-driven cultures.” The data.world tool acts as a central platform where teams can collaborate on projects, share ideas, and get the information they need without having to hunt for a year-old PDF that’s saved who-knows-where.
Rather than teams being scattered between tools and conversation channels, the data.world tool is designed to centralize workflows, and create useful data from this centralization.
[Our] mission is to create the most meaningful, collaborative, and abundant data resource in the world.”
“We’re putting our money where our mission is, so to speak. That mission is to create the most meaningful, collaborative, and abundant data resource in the world,” data.world CEO Brett Hurt told Built In.
Data.world has proven successful to date, raising $44.7 million in total funding. Most recently, the company raised a $12 million venture round in September 2018. Capsenta represents a next step for the company, as this is its first acquisition.
Capsenta was incubated at the University of Texas at Austin, and builds advanced data storage and search tools used by complex, data-rich fields like healthcare and logistics. The firm has raised just $210,000 in funding since its establishment in 2012, but the company’s plug-and-play-style visualization tools have proven a hit with customers.
As data.world co-founder and Hurt explained to Built In, the deal represents a fusion of enterprise data management solutions into a singular entity that was long in the making.
“As Capsenta became a partner and part of the critical path of our work with several of our customers, it became more and more obvious that we should make this move as soon as possible,” said Hurt. “Our customers are going to live in a hybrid data world for a long time and cataloging and analyzing data from all sources, including on-prem, is going to be essential.”
This is a homegrown success story that touches every part of the Austin startup ecosystem.”
Capital Factory founder Joshua Baer painted the acquisition as “a huge win for Austin and for the University of Texas.”
“This is a homegrown success story that touches every part of the Austin startup ecosystem,” Baer said in a statement. “[Capsenta co-founder] Juan Sequeda has been a startup community leader for the past decade. I’m proud to have been an investor in data.world since day one.”
“The last ten years of growth on the Austin tech scene have truly been stunning to me as an Austin native and long-time contributor to this scene,” Hurt added, noting many local successes from both the company and the VC side. “It has never been a better time to be an entrepreneur — or investor — in Austin tech companies.”
