Numerify adds on $15M & aims its cloud analytics at IT

When Numerify came forward last year with news of its Series A funding, chief executive Gaurav Rewari spoke convincingly about the importance of doing business analytics in the cloud. But that business is competitive. Numerify has decided to analyze data in the clouds for specific types of people: über-nerds.

That’s right, folks. Numerify is targeting its cloud-based business-analytics software at IT admins who need to keep tabs on operations. The startup is announcing the change of direction today as it also pulls the cover off a fresh Series B round of funding, which totals $15 million and will cover sales and marketing expenditures.

Rewari said the startup focused on the question, “Where are areas where domain-specific analytics is extremely valuable and where we could pre-package analytics to be highly relevant and accessible and deployable in short order?”

Numerify also considered sales and HR as possible areas of focus before ultimately selecting IT, Rewari told VentureBeat. That industry hasn’t attracted a bevy of specialists — not yet, anyway.

Plenty of other startups have been looking to challenge incumbents like IBM, Oracle, and SAP in business analytics. Consider ClearStory Data, GoodData, and SiSense, for starters. Heck, even enterprise software beast Salesforce.com is cooking up an Analytics Cloud. That’s why it’s smart that Rewari and his team are targeting IT.

Numerify can help admins and managers answer questions about ongoing issues, the sources of demand, the ability to meet corporate service standards, and the cost of servicing and incidents down to individual employees. The application can draw on data from numerous cloud services, including those that handle service-desk requests and customer accounts, Rewari said.

Above: A screen shot of the Numerify software.

Image Credit: Screen shot

Sequoia Capital led the new round in Numerify, which is based in Cupertino, Calif. Lightspeed Venture Partners also participated.

Numerify started in 2012 and now employs more than 85 people. The count should exceed 150 people in a year’s time, Rewari said. Customers include Incomm, Netflix, Spansion, and the University of San Francisco.