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September 30, 2024

Zenlytic’s $9 Million Funding Round Aims to Transform Data Analytics for Non-Technical Users

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Zenlytic, a fast-emerging self-service business intelligence (BI) platform, has announced the successful closure of a $9 million early-stage funding round. 

Funds from this Series A round will be used to fuel its ambitions of bringing artificial intelligence-powered BI to every office worker. This investment will support the company’s growth by enhancing its platform capabilities and developing engineering capabilities to drive innovation in the BI space​. 

The funding was led by M13 with participation from existing investors including 14 Peaks, Company Ventures, Primary Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Correlation Ventures, and several strategic angel investors.

“This is a huge milestone for Zenlytic as we advance our mission to democratize data analytics,” said Ryan Janssen, CEO and co-founder at Zenlytic. “We’re excited to partner with M13 and other investors to scale our engineering and commercial teams. The world needs an analytics platform that people can actually use.”

Founded in 2018, Zenlytic’s platform was designed to unify BI and product analytics into a natural-language interface that allows non-technical users to easily explore data and make informed decisions independently. 

(Creativa-Images/Shutterstock)

Initially focused on commerce, the platform has expanded across industries, offering enterprise-grade analytics that streamlines data from multiple sources into a single, customizable tool.

At the core of the platform is Zoë, an AI data analyst that Zenlytic claims surpasses traditional AI copilots. Zoë acts as an autonomous data agent capable of answering complex, high-value queries, allowing users to derive valuable insights from their data without any coding expertise.

Traditional BI platforms often require domain expertise and advanced analytics skills, limiting their accessibility for non-technical users. This makes them less useful for everyday decision-making in many businesses, especially for teams without dedicated data specialists. It’s no surprise that only 11% of employees globally are confident in their data literacy skills

Zoë, the AI data agent behind Zenlytic, simplifies data interactions by utilizing an automated “cognitive layer”. This advanced layer connects directly to the company’s data, allowing users to access and analyze complex data sets via straightforward natural-language processing (NLP).  

Whether it’s conducting scenario analysis, building a dashboard, or running complex queries, users can interact with data through Zoë as if they were speaking to a human analyst. This conversational approach makes it easy for users to navigate and manipulate data without requiring technical expertise, streamlining the analytics process and enhancing productivity.

According to Zenlytic, Zoë can access data from various sources including advertising platforms, Excel files, customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications. 

The integration of AI into business intelligence platforms is becoming more prevalent. Zenlytic faces formidable competition from established players in the market, including Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, and Qlik Sense. 

(Alexander Supertramp/Shutterstock)

Janssen acknowledges the challenges facing his startup but emphasizes that true self-service BI is about fostering a more conversational experience, which is central to Zenlytic’s platform. This approach enables users to interact with their data in a natural and intuitive manner, distinguishing it from several other BI tools that claim to offer self-service capabilities. 

The recent funding equips Zenlytic with the necessary capital to enhance its platform and offer user-friendly tools for non-technical users to interact with data. However, the platform’s effectiveness will hinge on several factors, including the quality of the data it processes and its ability to adapt to the rapidly changing technological landscape. 

Confident in the platform’s potential, M13 Managing Partner Karl Alomar expressed enthusiasm for the partnership, praising Zenlytic’s dedication to innovation and user-friendly design.

“We are excited to partner with Zenlytic on its journey to redefine how organizations harness the power of data and deliver across the organization seamlessly,” said Alomar.  “Zenlytic’s commitment to innovation and user-centric design aligns perfectly with our investment philosophy, and we look forward to supporting their continued growth and success.”

Continuous improvements in data handling and responsiveness to emerging trends in AI and analytics will be crucial for Zenlytic to gain and maintain a competitive edge and deliver real value to its users.

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