Artificial intelligence-powered solutions grow more advanced by the day, as models are continually trained on expansive sets of data. For the companies behind these tools, managing the large quantities of unstructured data that inform AI algorithms is easier said than done, especially as those data sets keep growing.
Enter Hammerspace, a San Mateo-based startup operating in the data orchestration space. Its solution works to help teams access, activate and monetize their data without interrupting user access, as well as leverage it to build new products and accelerate those products’ time to revenue.
Hammerspace announced Tuesday that it raised $56.7 million — its first round of outside funding — to grow its business. The investment was led by Prosperity7, with ARK Invest, Pier 88 Hedge Fund and other unnamed investors also participating.
While data has become an increasingly valuable resource for modern companies, only a small portion of that data is organized and therefore usable. Companies can process and analyze structured data to benefit their business, according to Hammerspace, but the vast majority of data is unstructured — leaving an immense amount of information that’s difficult to access outside of its storage silo.
Hammerspace’s goal is to help companies get the most use out of their unstructured data to create new revenue streams and improve their operational efficiency. While the need for a solution like this is highly prevalent in the fast-growing AI sector, the company also serves enterprise customers across several other industries, including scientific discovery, extended reality, autonomy and corporate video.
“Hammerspace is uniquely positioned to accelerate the next data cycle for enterprises through unstructured data orchestration,” founder and CEO David Flynn said in a statement. “The last data cycle focused on structured data rooted in business intelligence, but this data cycle, driven by compute, orchestration and applications, leverages unstructured data to drive product innovation and business opportunity with AI, machine learning and analytics.”
Backed by its new round of capital, Hammerspace plans to expand its team to keep up with its growing customer base. Currently staffed at 75 people, Hammerspace wants to exceed a headcount of 100 by the end of the year, Flynn told Built In via email. The company is hiring across customer success, sales and marketing.
