Enterprise data intelligence startup Alation Inc. today announced that it has raised $123 million in new funding to accelerate its growth and global expansion while driving strategic product innovation as the demand for data intelligence platforms surges.

Thoma Bravo, Sanabil Investments and Costanoa Ventures led the Series E round. Databricks Ventures, Dell Technologies Capital, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Icon Ventures, Queensland Investment Corporation, Riverwood Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Sapphire Ventures and Union Grove also participated.

The company noted that even though it was a challenging fundraising, this was an up round, meaning its valuation rose — somewhat unusual these days as the tech boom wanes amid the slowing economy. Including the new funding, Alation has raised $340 million to date, with this new round raised on a valuation of $1.7 billion. The company’s previous round, $110 million, was raised in June 2021.

Founded in 2012, Alation pitches itself as offering enterprise data intelligence and “human brilliance” to deliver a platform that “adds people to the formula.” The company’s solutions include data search and discovery, governance, stewardship, analytics and transformation.

Alation argues that organizations that collect massive amounts of data to track and understand buyer behavior, manage supply chains, inventory, sales, customer service and more need a data intelligence platform to find, understand, trust and use data collaboratively.

The company has seen strong growth, surpassing $100 million in annual recurring revenue in September. Notable Alation clients include AbbVie Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., General Mills Inc., Muenchener Rungs Ghft in Mnhn AG, Nasdaq Inc., Pfizer Inc., Raiffeisen Bank International AG, Salesforce Inc., The Very Group, Vattenfall AB and Virgin Australia Airlines Pty. Ltd.

“If you think about how people make decisions, often it’s with bias and ideology,” Satyen Sangani, co-founder and chief executive officer of Alation, told theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media Inc.’s video studio (below). “A lot of that happens because people are intimidated by data or often don’t know how to use it. We at the core started Alation because we wanted to demystify data for people.”

The new funding will be used by Alation to increase product-focused research and development, as well as acquisitions to expand Alation’s multitenant software-as-a-service offering. The company also plans to hire more people. Its staff has grown by 75% in the last year across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific region.

Sangani spoke with theCUBE host Dave Vellante about the new funding and how it supports Alation’s mission. “The data intelligence market is growing superfast,” he said. “We’re seeing customers increase the size of their commitments. It’s time to invest and it’s time to be aggressive when a lot of other folks are fearful.”

Image: Alation