US-based data streaming platform provider Confluent, which counts social media platform LinkedIn as a shareholder, collected $125m yesterday in a series D round led by venture capital firm Sequoia Capital.
VC firms Benchmark and Index Ventures also took part in the round, which valued the company at $2.5bn, increasing its total funding to $206m in the process.
Founded in 2014, Confluent has built what it describes as an event streaming platform, allowing companies in industries such as retail, logistics, manufacturing, financial services and media to access, monitor and process data.
The platform is built on Apache Kafka, a form of open-source data streaming software developed by Confluent’s founders when they worked at LinkedIn, and helps businesses react to large-scale data changes in real time. The company claims more than 60% of the Fortune 100 are using its technology.
Jay Kreps, co-founder and chief executive of Confluent, said: “We are excited to have this additional funding because it allows us to grow our investment in building this technology, expand the cloud services that deliver it, and partner with customers that adopt it.”
The company raised $6.9m in a 2014 series A round that included LinkedIn, Benchmark and VC firm Data Collective. Benchmark joined Index in Confluent’s $24m series B round in 2015, before returning for a $50m series C led by Sequoia in early 2017.