UPDATED 11:39 EST / JANUARY 18 2017

BIG DATA

Collibra raises $50M to help companies be more responsible with their data

Ensuring that business data is handled by the book can be difficult in large companies with multiple analytics projects running side-by-side and rules that often vary from unit to unit.

According to Collibra NV, however, it’s possible to make the task much easier with the right set of tools. The Belgian startup received an endorsement this morning in the form of a $50 million funding round led by Iconiq Capital. Once dubbed the “Spider of Silicon Valley,” this low-key investment firm boasts an exclusive clientele that includes Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, Jack Dorsey and several other tech billionaires.

Armed with the new funds, Collibra will set to work on widening the adoption of its data governance platform. The software enables companies to organize their documents, business records and other information in a centralized catalog that allows analysts to find assets they need for their work. Items are displayed alongside various knowledge resources designed to help users navigate around the operational inconsistencies that can often arise in a large organization.

Among other things, Collibra logs the structure in which each record trove is organized to ensure that information remains consistent as it changes hands. Users that require a deeper view also have access to metadata such as the location of a file and relationship with other records. Collibra says that its platform even provides the ability to highlight how the language in which information is documented varies between departments so to reduce the risk of errors.

Once a user has finally identified the dataset they need for their project, they can quickly put in an access request without having to concern themselves with their companies’ governance rules. According to Collibra, its platform makes it possible to handle policy enforcement in the background with automatic workflows that are capable of executing all the precautions required for a given piece of information.

Collibra claims that its platform is used by Verizon Communications Inc., Netapp Inc. and hundreds of other organizations around the world.

The startup is gaining a lot of momentum on the financial side as well: TechCrunch reports that today’s investment raised Collibra valuation to around $650 million, which jibes with information from venture capital database Funderbeam.

Image via Pixabay

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