OmniSci Reports Wide-Ranging Growth in Wake of Rebrand

OmniSci Reports Wide-Ranging Growth in Wake of Rebrand

Three months into its rebrand, GPU-accelerated analytics innovator OmniSci (formerly MapD) is reporting “wide-ranging growth” including significant increases in revenue run rate and the size of its customer base. The company credits its growth to the success of its technology that enables organizations to conduct advanced big data analytics “at extreme speed.”

“OmniSci’s customers are increasingly battling against the limitations of mainstream analytics tools in the age of big data,” OmniSci CEO Todd Mostak explained. He pointed to the processing challenges that are common in high-frequency decision-making – interactive queries and visualization of large datasets – as beyond the capabilities of CPU-based solutions. “Our momentum, especially in the past 12 months, has proven the value of our technology for querying and visualizing big data at the speed of curiosity.”

In a statement, the company announced a set of expansion plans for 2019, including doubling its workforce by the end of the year, and a move into new San Francisco headquarters in the first half of 2019.

2018 featured the launch of OmniSci’s MapD Cloud, the first SaaS-based, GPU-accelerated analytics solution. The company announced partnerships with NVIDIA and Pure Storage in the fall, ahead of its corporate rebrand announcement in October. Also in October, the company finished a $55 million Series C round that brought the company’s total capital to $92 million. Tiger Global Management, New Enterprise Associates, Vanedge Capital, In-Q-Tel, Verizon, Google Ventures and NVIDIA are among the company’s investors.

As MapD, the company demonstrated its MapD Core and MapD Immerse solutions at FinovateSpring 2018. MapD Core represents the platform’s GPU-powered database and MapD Immerse is the platform visualization engine. The database runs across multiple GPIs, supporting analysis of multi-billion row datasets by multiple users. The company’s visualization engine uses GPUs to render billions of points on the front end without the network bottlenecks common to other systems.

GPU-based systems promise to enable more companies to take advantage of big data. “The sheer volume of data is often an impediment to processing information and completing analyses in a timely way,” Constellation Research VP and analyst Doug Henschen said. “GPU acceleration is a cutting-edge method that leaders and fast-followers are embracing to quickly gain insight without sacrificing in-depth analysis.”


Curious about which companies will be demonstrating their latest technologies at FinovateSpring this year? Stay tuned to our FinovateSpring page to find out!

MapD Launches Latest Version of its Analytics Platform

MapD Launches Latest Version of its Analytics Platform

MapD, a next generation database and visualization layer capable of providing immersive, instantaneous analytics on large and complex datasets, has released the latest version of its technology.

“(We) never thought about the MapD platform as ‘just’ a super fast SQL engine that can leverage GPUs or ‘just’ an immersive, interactive visualization solution,” wrote Venkat Krishnamurthy, VP of Product Management, at the MapD blog. “MapD has always been both, and we care about creating technology for a unified MapD experience around interactivity at scale.”

MapD CEO Todd Mostak demonstrating MapD Core and MapD Immerse at FinovateSpring 2017.

MapD 4.0 adds geospatial data types, an improved rendering engine, and enhancements with the technology’s query engine. These updates make it even easier for analysts to manage and interact with exceptionally large datasets that feature both spatial and temporal data. The ability to examine geospatial data on a map or time series chart, noted Krishnamurthy, provides analysts with “context and visual signals that we can understand clearly and intuitively.”

The new version brings several new features to both MapD Core, the foundation of the MapD Extreme Analytics Platform, and MapD Render, which instantly creates the interactive charts and geospatial visualizations from server-side GPUs. “With MapD 4.0, we’re taking the first big step toward making geospatial analytics available to any user,” Krishnamurthy noted, “from an experienced GIS analyst or data scientist who can write complex SQL queries over location enriched data to a business user of MapD Immerse who wants to go a step beyond mainstream BI tools to derive insight quickly and visually from the same data.”

MapD CEO Todd Mostak demonstrated the MapD platform – including Core and Immerse – at FinovateSpring 2017. With partners including NVIDIA, Google Cloud, IBM, and the Microsoft Accelerator Program, MapD has raised more than $37 million in funding from investors including New Enterprise Associates and Vanedge Capital. Earlier this year, MapD launched a cloud-based version of its offering MapD Cloud. The company was named to the insideBIGDATA IMPACT 50 list in April.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate

  • Additiv Partners with Orange Business to Bring Digital Wealth Management to FIs.
  • Zopa’s Record Lending Figures Suggest a Healthy U.K. P2P Lending Sector.

Around the web

  • Iraq’s Banque Liban-Francaise completes upgrade to Temenos’ T24 core banking system.
  • P2P lender Zopa announces 40% revenue growth and a return to profitability.
  • Ohpen signs LeasePlan Bank as its latest customer.
  • Efigence implements technological side of Alior Bank open banking project.
  • Open Bank Project collaborates with Citizens Bank hackathon.
  • The World Economic Forum names Neener Analytics as a Technology for Integrity 2018.
  • YellowDog wins Business Innovation Award at inaugural Best New Business Awards.
  • Finicity forges data sharing agreement with USAA.
  • MapD debuts MapD 4.0 for interactive location intelligence at scale.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

MapD Shoots for the Cloud

MapD Shoots for the Cloud

Analytics and visualization company MapD has its head in the cloud this week. That’s because the San Francisco-based company launched a cloud-based offering, MapD Cloud.

The new service has been in the making since the company launched in 2016, but proved difficult to implement without widespread availability of GPUs in the public cloud. Previously, it was difficult for customers to set up a cluster of GPUs to run MapD software because it was challenging to find a hardware manufacturer that carried GPU server SKUs– they were scarce in public clouds. This has shifted, however, with the rise of GPU computing adoption and major technology players providing support for GPU infrastructure.

Leveraging this shift, MapD has partnered with hardware vendors to standardize on-premises deployments and launched on the AWS marketplace. These moves have helped the company become a leader in GPU-accelerated analytics.

MapD was founded in 2013. The company’s CEO Todd Mostak most recently demoed the company’s Core and Immerse components at FinovateSpring 2017. Mostak also gave a presentation at FinDEVr New York 2017 titled How GPU-Powered Visual Analytics Are Remaking Financial Services. Last fall, MapD teamed up with IBM Power Systems to enhance the speed at which SQL queries can be performed.

Finovate Alums Earn Spots on insideBIGDATA IMPACT 50 List

Finovate Alums Earn Spots on insideBIGDATA IMPACT 50 List

It is no surprise to see companies like NVIDIA, Intel, Dell EMC, and SAS at the top of the quarterly insideBIGDATA IMPACT 50 roster. But what caught our eye was the handful of Finovate alums that won recognition on insideBIGDATA’s review of companies that are “making waves in the technology areas of big data, data science, machine learning, AI, and deep learning.”

“Our in-box is filled each day with new announcements, commentaries, and insights about what’s driving the success of our industry so we’re in a unique position (to) publish our quarterly IMPACT 50 List of the most important movers and shakers in our industry,” Daniel D. Gutierrez, managing editor and resident data scientist of insideBIGDATA wrote in an article accompanying the announcement.

What does it take to make the list? Gutierrez explained that the roster consists of companies that “exhibit technology leadership, strength of offering, proven innovation, positivity of message, quality perception in the enterprise, intensity and frequency of social media buzz, high profile of members of the C-suite, and in the case of public companies: positive financial indicators and stock price, and so much more!”

Our five honored Finovate alums are below. To see the full list of 50 “DataTech” companies, visit insideBIGDATA.

#9 Google (Europe 2018, Fall 2011): Appearing first on the Finovate stage with its Google Advisor solution and as recently as this spring in partnership with KBC Bank Ireland, Google is in the top ten of insideBIGDATA’s Impact 50 list. Google needs little introduction as one of the companies that has done the most to bring the benefits of data to technology consumers via solutions like Search, Maps, Google Play, and its Chrome browser. Founded in 1998, Google is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

#14 Kinetica (Europe 2018, Fall 2017):  Founded in 2009 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Kinetica enables financial institutions to conduct on-demand risk calculations using the most up-to-date data with “sub-second speed.” High frequency trading firms and traditional asset managers alike can leverage Kinetica’s technology to measure risk, identify customer behavioral patterns, and locate up-sell opportunities. With $63 million in funding, Kinetica includes fellow insideBIGDATA Impact 50 members Dell EMC, NVIDIA, and Google Cloud Platform among its partners.

#15 MapD (Spring 2017, Fall 2016): Developer of the world’s fastest open source SQL engine, MapD harnesses GPUs to deliver extreme speed at scale. Based in San Francisco, MapD provides users with powerful data visualizations made possible by the technology’s ability to query and render billions of rows of data in milliseconds. MapD’s technology originated from research conducted at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). Todd Mostak is CEO of the company, which was founded in 2013.

#40 Narrative Science (Fall 2013, Spring 2013): Specialists in Advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP), Narrative Science builds solutions that enable financial institutions to analyze, understand, communicate, and act upon their data quickly and efficiently. The company’s technology can turn ordinary numeric and symbolic data and visualizations into “intelligent narratives” that express insights and context in language that is indistinguishable from that of a human author. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, and founded in 2010, Narrative Science has raised more than $43 million in funding. Stuart Frankel is CEO.

#46 TIBCO (Asia 2013, Asia 2012): Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California, TIBCO is a leader in integration, API management, and analytics. The company’s TIBCO Connected Intelligence Cloud gives enterprise users access to a unified suite of services including the company’s low-code development platform, TIBCO Cloud Live Apps. The company was acquired by Vista Equity Partners in September 2014 in a deal valued at $4.3 billion. TIBCO made headlines earlier this year with the appointment of a new CTO and COO.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • SpyCloud Lands $5 Million in Funding.
  • Finovate Alums Earn Spots on insideBIGDATA IMPACT 50 List.
  • The Faves of FinovateSpring: A Brief History of Best of Show Winners

Around the web

  • Benzinga reports: Tuition.io Helps Enterprises Tackle A $1.4 Trillion Crisis.
  • Speedway names InComm as Innovative Business Partner of the Year.
  • Revolut updates business accounts.
  • Bazaarvoice launches new solution to make personalization more powerful.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Bluefin Buddies Up: Decryptx P2PE Network Grows to 50+ Connected Partners
  • Fiserv Teams with TransUnion to Enhance Automotive Loan Origination System
  • Azimo Brings Faster Money Transfers to Nigeria
  • eToro to Build Blockchain-Based Social Trading Products in Partnership with CoinDash
  • CashStar Launches Digital Gifting Program with Belk Department Store

Around the web

  • Mark Saltzman Interviews Flybits Founder & CEO on TD for Me (video).
  • API Evangelist features Streamdata.io.
  • LearnVest CEO Alexa von Tobel featured on NPR podcast How I Built This.
  • MapD unveils latest release featuring new geo heatmap , custom aliases, faster SQL sorts and more

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • TransferTo and Fern Software Receive Grant from UN Capital Development Fund
  • EyeLock Partners with ViaTouch to Bring Iris Authentication to Smart Shelf Vending
  • Betterment Celebrates the Season of Giving with New Share Donation Feature

Around the web

  • PPRO, Klarna team up for credit payment methods across Europe.
  • Mastercard plans its own blockchain.
  • GeoAwesomeness profiles San Francisco startup, MapD.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

MapD Partners with IBM Power Systems

MapD Partners with IBM Power Systems

Analytics platform MapD has partnered with IBM Power Systems to enhance its analytical performance. California-based MapD has optimized its MapD Core database and MapD Immersive visual analytics client to take advantage of IBM Power Systems to target the speed at which SQL queries can be performed.

Running queries on IBM Power Systems S822LC for HPC servers versus x86-based servers offers an SQL querying speed that is up to 1.3 x faster than recent benchmarks. On average, the updated queries show a 65% acceleration over the original, benchmarked SQL queries. Upgrades such as these help users analyze billion-row data sets in real-time.

“We’re bringing new performance capabilities to a broader audience only available on IBM Power Systems,” said Ashish Bambroo, VP of Business Development at MapD Technologies. “IBM Power Systems are optimized for the kind of compute-intensive applications where MapD’s technology excels. By harnessing the advantages of IBM Power Systems, we can provide our enterprise customers with more options for tackling the toughest workloads.”

To increase the speed, MapD is leveraging IBM’s POWER CPUs and NVIDIA Tesla P100 graphics processors. The POWER processor CPU works together with the NVIDIA Tesla P100 GPU, accelerating CPU-to-GPU analytic pipelines up to 2.5X. This acceleration bolsters MapD’s platform that uses GPUs to query and visualize billions of records in real-time. The company’s GPU-based platform performs from 75 to 3,500 times faster than traditional CPU databases.

MapD was founded in 2013. The company’s CEO Todd Mostak most recently demoed the company’s Core and Immerse components at FinovateSpring 2017. Mostak also gave a presentation at FinDEVr New York 2017 titled How GPU-Powered Visual Analytics Are Remaking Financial Services. Last month, MapD ranked among the best database and analytics tools according to InfoWorld.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Efigence Teams Up with Alior Bank, Telekom Romania to Help Launch Telekom Banking.
  • Mastercard Takes Blockchain Mainstream with API.
  • Zighra Launches Flagship Continuous Authentication Product.
  • Stash Reveals Plans to Launch Mobile-First Banking Service.

Around the web

  • Latvian Bank Citadele secures mobile and online banking with VASCO’s DIGIPASS for Apps and CRONTO
  • Azimo’s momentum continues with triple-digit growth.
  • Visa to offer ThreatMetrix technologies through its Visa ID Intelligence platform.
  • Lendio joins lending platform association.
  • Dream Payments unveils its point of sale solution for First Data’s Clover merchants.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Finovate Alums Earn Spots in European Fintech 100.

Around the web

  • MapD to speed research with GPIs as part of collaboration with Harvard University’s Center for Geographic Analysis.
  • OnDeck celebrates 10 years  of  alternative lending
  • Challenger bank Fidor reaches 200,000 customers
  • Open Banking selects Ping Identity to provide the identity and access management to underpin the UK’s open banking framework
  • Banco Interamericano de Finanzas leverages Infocorp’s marketing orchestrator tool, Prisma Campaigns

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

FinDEVr APIntelligence

FinDEVr APIntelligence

Our first developers conference in the U.K. is just over a month away. If APIs and SDKs are just a few of your favorite fintech acronyms, then join us for two days of developer-focused presentations, demonstrations, and conversations at FinDEVr 2017 London, June 12 and 13. Stop by our registration page today and save your spot.

FinDEVr 2017 London is a part of London Tech Week, which runs from June 12 to June 16.

On FinDEVr.com

  • Symbiont Gains “Strong Partner in Asia” with Investment from Hundson Technologies.

Upcoming FinDEVr 2017 London alum news

  • Check Out Our Exclusive Interview with ISARA CEO, Scott Totzke.
  • Our latest FinDEVr Features Are Up. Meet Kontomatik and IdentityMind Global.

Alumni updates

  • Kontomatik earns top 50 spot in the 2017 Dutch FinTech Awards. Join Kontomatik in London for FinDEVr in June.
  • ACI Worldwide’s point-to-point encryption solution earns PCI P2PE compliance validation.
  • Thoma Bravo to Acquire Lexmark’s Kofax.
  • MapD partners with Continuum Analytics & H2O.ai, to form the GPU Open Analytics Initiative.
  • Thinking Capital to offer SMB financing options to TouchBistro POS clients.
  • Token Picks Up $18.5 Million to Help Banks Rise to Challenge of PSD2.
  • PayNearMe adds 8,000 CVS Pharmacy Stores to its network cash acceptance locations.
  • CardFlight unveils new line of mobile card readers to support secure EMV and NFC contactless payments.
  • Gartner recognizes OutSystems as a leader in enterprise high productivity application platform as a service technology.
  • Malauzai’s Vantiv Partnership to Leverage OnDot’s CardControl Tool.

Stay current on daily news from the fintech developer community! Follow FinDEVr on Twitter.