Founders: Ted Bailey (CEO), Sam Hendel, Jeff Kinsey
Date launched: 2009
Funding: $49.6 million
Industries disrupted: Enterprise Technology, Social Media, Software
Disrupting: Google, IBM, Salesforce.com
Competition: Hootsuite, Spredfast, SproutSocial
Source: Dataminr
Ted Bailey, co-founder and CEO of Dataminr
Earlier this year, when a gas explosion tore through parts of Harlem in New York City, the data analytics company Dataminr confirmed the event in less than four minutes. It took local news stations nearly 20 minutes to report it.
How is that possible? Dataminr uses powerful proprietary algorithms to sift through tweets to identify real-time news and events. Because the company is so adept at recognizing patterns, it can determine in an instant which information is real and which is not.
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The company, founded in 2009 by three Yale roommates, has clients in finance—more than 50 financial firms use Dataminr to keep abreast of breaking financial news—as well as in the public sector, providing information (as in the case of the gas explosion) when lives are at stake.
Its most recent offering is Dataminr for News, in partnership with Twitter. Designed for news organizations and available commercially later this year, the product will enable journalists to get tweets alerting them to international, domestic, breaking and trending news. The company has already raised nearly $50 million and is backed by Venrock and Institutional Venture Partners.
How did you come up with your big idea?
"In 2009, I recognized that a highly unique platform like Twitter ... would bring about a global disruption in the flow of information. It was only a matter of time before these businesses would require a highly sophisticated real-time information discovery platform."
