Qubole, the big data-as-a-service company, announced on Thursday that it had closed a $25 million strategic round of funding led by Singtel Innov8 and Harmony Partners with participation from existing investors Charles River Ventures (CRV), Lightspeed Venture Partners, Norwest Venture Partners and Institutional Venture Partners (IVP).
Singtel Innov8’s investment provides an important anchor for Qubole’s APAC expansion. Continuing the company’s momentum, Qubole also announced the appointments of Kevin Kennedy as Chief Operating Officer and Mohit Bhatnagar as Senior Vice President of Products.
The addition of Kennedy as COO and Bhatnagar as Senior VP of Products positions Qubole for its next stage of growth. Kennedy has a diverse background having held executive positions leading sales, services and support, as well as marketing, product management and development at PeopleSoft, Oracle and Ooyala. Bhatnagar has deep product and general management expertise with hands-on experience at startups and large enterprises, including NetApp, McKinsey and Symantec.
Qubole operates all over the Asia Pacific region with a central office located in Bengaluru, and a sales office in Singapore, led by Joydeep Sen Sarma, co-founder and CTO.
As APAC has become a hotbed for Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning talent, Qubole services customers across India, including Ola Cabs, Saavn and Indix, among others. With Singtel Innov8’s support, Qubole is looking forward to expand its presence across South East Asia including India, Australia and Singapore.
“There is a significant opportunity for Big Data in the Asia Pacific region. Qubole makes it easy for enterprises to access best-in-class analytics for quicker, more accurate decision making in a cost-efficient way,” said Punit Chiniwalla, Senior Director, Singtel Innov8. “We are excited to partner with Qubole and their incredibly talented team.”
Qubole is reportedly the largest cloud-agnostic big data platform in the world, growing revenue at more than 100 percent year-over-year. They process nearly an exabyte of data in the cloud per month for enterprises that include Autodesk, Lyft, Samsung and Under Armour, among others.
“Qubole is now at a pivotal growth point. Our sales momentum and product innovation in the last year have propelled us to the next stage of our global expansion,” said Ashish Thusoo, CEO and co-founder, Qubole. “As big data market demands continue to grow and evolve, this strategic investment and the addition of Kevin and Mohit to our leadership team position Qubole as the leader in helping enterprises around the world successfully meet their big data project goals.”
