Open data startup Socrata brings in $30M to make government data more accessible

Socrata, a startup working to make government data more easily accessible to companies and services, has raised $30 million in new funding.

Socrata has raised at least $30 million of a possible $35 million it’s seeking to close, according to a filing it submitted today to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing lists Jai Das of Sapphire Ventures as a director.

Although Socrata mentions several products on its website, it’s mainly focused on helping to bridge government data and companies and developers through application programming interfaces (APIs), applications, and online data portals. The goal is to increase government transparency and citizen engagement through surfacing government data.

Socrata originally started as Blist, an online database, and became Socrata in 2009, along with its expansion into the open data services and products it now offers.

Socrata did not immediately return VentureBeat’s emails.

Socrata is headquartered in Seattle, with additional offices in Washington, D.C., and London. The company previously raised a total of $24.5 million from In-Q-Tel, Morgenthaler Ventures, Frazier Technology Ventures, and OpenView Venture Partners.