‘Data Viz for Dummies’ startup raises a cool $1M

Data visualization for huge sets of information can be hard, man. Datahero wants to make it easy, and apparently, some pretty interesting investors do, too.

The product is still in private testing stages, but it’s impressed (to the tune of $1 million) a few influential brainiacs who count data as their number-one obsession.

With just a few clicks in a normal web browser, Datahero users can gather information and turn it into pretty, useful graphs and charts. To start, you can import data sets from a range of online services. You can also upload corporate reports or spreadsheets of their own devising.

Then, the magic happens: Datahero’s invisible gears and levers sort and tag the information, leaving a normal-user-friendly UI that lets consumers focus on patterns and deeper meanings of data — all without any IT or statistical training.

“With Datahero, users of any ability can quickly and easily visualize the data that matters the most to them, without needing a data scientist or an IT department,” said Chris Neumann, CEO and cofounder of Datahero, in a release about the funding. “We literally enable any user to be their own data hero!”

Today, Datahero is announcing  it’s raised a $1 million round led by Foundry Group with participation from Neu Venture Capital, Dave Kellogg (a Salesforce SVP), data-focused entrepreneur Tasso Argyros, Argyros’ business partner and Stanford Ph.D. Mayank Bawa, data geek and entrepreneur Mike Greenfield, and Jonathan Goldman, another data-obsessed nerd with an MIT degree.

The Datahero team’s combination of big data expertise and elegant design was also attractive to Foundry Group managing partner Ryan McIntyre.

“What attracted us to Datahero is the data and design DNA in the founders’ background: a compelling mix of user-focused design sensibility and deep data scaling and analysis expertise,” McIntyre said in a release.

Datahero is based in Palo Alto, Calif., and was founded in 2011 by Neumann, a big data specialist, and consumer products guru Jeff Zabel (formerly of BMW).

Image courtesy of Peshkova, Shutterstock