UPDATED 11:59 EST / NOVEMBER 30 2017

BIG DATA

Uptake raises a hefty $117M to tap data from industrial machines

Uptake Technologies Inc., a predictive analytics startup competing with the likes of General Electric Co., today announced that it has closed a hefty $117 million investment led by asset management giant Baillie Gifford & Co.

The firm was joined by returning backers Revolution Growth and GreatPoint Ventures. Uptake will use the capital to widen the adoption of its cloud-based analytics services, which are used by companies in different parts of the industrial sector to identify operational issues before they can cause any harm.

A wind farm operator, for example, can employ the startup’s tools to predict hardware failures. A video on Uptake’s website details how the MidAmerican Energy Co. saved $250,000 within a week of deploying its technology by spotting a problem with the gearbox of one of its turbines. Because the issue was detected early, the startup says that the fix only cost about $5,000.

For farm operators, Uptake promises not only to streamline equipment maintenance but also to provide weather and field imagery data that can be used forecast crop yields. The startup offers a similarly tailored feature set for tracking the health of truck fleets used to haul cargo over long distances.

Uptake competes in eight industrial sectors altogether. The startup claims to have racked up dozens of customers across six continents, despite facing stiff competition from GE and other bigger rivals that offer their own predictive analytics software. Moreover, TechCrunch reported, it’s already cashflow-positive despite being in business for less than four years. 

The new funding round values Uptake at $2.3 billion. That makes the startup the third multibillion-dollar venture established by its co-founders, Brad Keywell and Eric Lefkofsky, who previously helped start Groupon Inc.. The predictive analytics startup currently has about 800 employees, a number that will no doubt increase in the wake of the cash infusion.

Uptake has raised a total of $263 million so far.

Image: Unsplash

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