US-based predictive analysis company DataRobot has raised $21m in a series A round backed by insurance company New York Life Insurance, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
The round was led by venture firm New Enterprise Associates and also featured Atlas Venture and IA Ventures.
Atlas previously contributed to a $3.3m seed round raised by DataRobot in September 2013. The start-up also received about $100,000 from TechStars in 2012.
DataRobot’s technology enables data scientists to build and test models to find the best match for their data. The new funds will be allocated to hiring new staff and the development of new features as the company prepares to launch its product this autumn.
Jeremy Achin, DataRobot’s CEO, said: “If you picture a bank or insurance company that has billions of dollars in revenue and the accuracy of the model that’s making decisions for them, if you can increase the accuracy even to the third decimal point, it could mean millions of dollars for them.
“We enable companies to build better models and faster than they do today.”