Ngdata raises $2.5M for big data management software (exclusive)

Need help managing Big Data for the enterprise? Just ask Lily.

Lily is the data management platform of Ngdata, a startup that is announcing today that it has raised $2.5 million for its enterprise data management software. The San Francisco company says its data management solution allows enterprises to gain deeper insight into customers and makes it easier for companies like large retailers and banks to get better customer insights.

The company raised the money from ING, Sniper Investments, Plug and Play Ventures and U.S. angel investors. The funds will enable Ngdata to invest in product development and expand globally.

Ngdata lets enterprises to make better recommendations and product offers to its customers as a result of advanced one-to-one marketing. Lily combines internal and external structured and unstructured data —from cash registers, enterprise applications, social media sites and more –into one platform. Lily uses artificial intelligence to generate a snapshot of consumer preferences and behaviors. That gives businesses a way to deal personally with consumers, boosting sales and customer loyalty.

“The Big Data market is accelerating at a rapid pace and it’s becoming increasingly important for organizations to be able to quickly assess and act upon the insights that this data offers,” said ING Investment Director, Tom Bousmans, one of the lead investors. “Billions of data points are being generated by consumers every second, creating a massive opportunity for enterprises to better understand their customers and prospects. Ngdata makes it easier than ever for enterprises to quickly use the data to initiate more personalized and dynamic interactions with consumers.”

Luc Burgelman, CEO of Ngdata, said, “It is critical for enterprises to better understand consumer preferences and behaviors, as this knowledge is the basis of continuous business improvement. With our solution, Lily, more enterprises are able to easily classify consumers to create a very personalized interaction – which ultimately results in increased sales, customer loyalty and a significant competitive advantage. This round of funding is just the beginning for Ngdata we expand our business into the U.S. market, continue to evolve our product line and look to supplement this round in the near future.”

Lily lets companies store, index and analyze massive sets of Big Data. It is being used by companies in financial services, news/media and retail companies.

The platform learns from end-users’ profiles and their data interaction, through machine-learning, to provide business users with the ability to do real-time segmentation and better target clients with more personalized offerings.

Lily sits atop existing IT infrastructure and integrates Apache Hadoop and Apache HBase software. Ngdata has about 20 employees and was started in 2009. Rivals include Wibidata and Spire. Unlike those companies, Ngdata says it designed its solution so companies can get an interactive view of a customer instead of focusing on analyzing batches of data. Ngdata also takes data from different databases and Excel files and captures it in one database. Ngdata says it has 10 unnamed customers and Lily is the first application to run on the Cloudera platform.

Burgelman was previously co-founder of Porthus, which went public in 2006 and was acquired by Descartes Systems Group in 2010. Frank Hamerlinck, chief operating officer, was previously co-founder of Porthus.

Burgelman said, “We monetize Big Data, plain and simple. We don’t think anyone in the market has been able to effectively do this to date.”

CloudBeat 2012 is assembling the biggest names in the cloud’s evolving story to learn about real cases of revolutionary cloud adoption. Unlike other cloud events, customers — the users of cloud technologies — will be front and center. Their discussions with vendors and other experts will give you rare insights into what really works, who’s buying what, and where the industry is going. Register now and save 25 percent! The early-bird discount ends September 14.