DataScience Raises $22 Million

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Data analysis consultancy DataScience has raised $22 million, an extension of a $4.5 million Series A round raised in June.

The Culver City startup has grown from seven employees in January to almost 50 employees today, said Chief Executive Ian Swanson. The company was initially focused on providing data analysis for e-commerce and Internet of Things companies, but has expanded to services for mobile app companies too, such as Tinder and Scopely, he said.

DataScience, which was founded last year, specializes in analyzing business-related information on behalf of data swamped clients. The company’s employees work in ad hoc teams to address client data analysis needs, such as calculating the lifetime value of users, finding subscription cancellation patterns and mining customer reviews to see what drives lower or higher net promoter scores. For the services, the company charges customers a retainer, starting at $15,000 a month.

Most of DataScience’s clients have in-house data science teams, but use the company’s services to get an extra push, said Swanson.

“We are able to bridge the gap between the business team and the technical team,” he said. “Every one of our customers have data science teams, but those data science teams are at capacity and are not able to answer the questions that the business teams have.”

Some of DataScience’s employees often have a mixture of technical and business skills, and a background working at consultancies such as McKinsey & Company. However, Swanson said, DataScience differentiates from consultancies by integrating with their clients, instead of being hired on a project basis.

DataScience tries to inject efficiency into its work through an online proprietary platform that automates routine data analysis work and facilitates collaboration with clients.

“Our product allows us to deploy (data analysis) models across customers in a more scalable way. The machine can do 60 percent to 70 percent of the work,” said Swanson, adding that humans are essential for the remaining work. “I strongly believe you need to have humans involved to connect the dots.”

The new funding round will be used to hire additional data scientists and engineers, as well as to improve upon the company’s online platform. The extended Series A investment was led by Whitehart Ventures of Venice. The original Series A round was led by Greycroft Partners of downtown. DataScience’s total amount of funding is $28 million.

Technology reporter Garrett Reim can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @garrettreim for the latest in L.A. tech news.

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