UNITED VENTURES INVESTS IN DATRIX TO SUPPORT DATA-DRIVEN BUSINESS GROWTH THROUGH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Datrix secures €2.3 million financing round led by United Ventures with participation from Nerio Alessandri’s Wellness Holding. The capital increase will support the company’s commercial expansion and R&D activities in the field of Augmented Analytics.
United Ventures SGR SpA, the independent venture capital company specialized in software and digital technologies, is lead investor in the ongoing capital increase of Datrix, a company that develops proprietary Augmented Analytics solutions for Marketing, Sales, Publishing and Finance. To date, 2.3 million euros have been subscribed; in addition to United Ventures, the round includes existing shareholders and new investors, among which Nerio Alessandri’s Wellness Holding.
United Ventures, already a shareholder of Datrix since August 2019 following the Group’s acquisition of PaperLit – a former portfolio company of the fund – participates in the operation with a follow-on investment through its first fund UV1. The capital increase, which consolidates a strategic collaboration in the Italian digital and technological landscape, will ensure Datrix important support in its growth process. The investment is mainly aimed at a strong acceleration on the marketing and sales front, also with a view to international expansion, at the extension of the customer base to SMEs, and at the intensification of R&D and product development activities.
Datrix was founded by three former senior managers of Google Italy (Fabrizio Milano d’Aragona, Mauro Arte and Claudio Zamboni), deeply convinced of the value of data to facilitate better decisions by companies of all sizes and consequently accelerate business growth. Thanks to the integration of expertise and very vertical experience in FinTech, MarTech, and Digital Publishing, Datrix works to be the reference point in Data Disruption directly developing technology, software, and services based on Artificial Intelligence, intended as an accelerator of human intelligence (AI as Augmented and Actionable Intelligence).
In 2019, Datrix reached a total turnover of €7.3 million (+87% compared to 2018), with over 100 employees, mainly data scientists, engineers, analysts, and designers, in the four offices in Milan, Rome, Viterbo, and Cagliari.
Datrix develops technologies and proprietary software solutions for Augmented Analytics, a new approach to Business Intelligence that integrates AI techniques (machine learning, deep learning, and NLP processing) and overcomes problems related to traditional Data Analytics solutions such as lack of data extraction, high-volume management difficulties, long preparation times, problematic understanding. Augmented Analytics identifies useful data (structured or not) already present in the company with the possibility to add new external data sources (Alternative Data) that are not traditionally treated. Once the data is automatically and impartially cleaned and analyzed, insights and relevant operational suggestions are identified and made easy to understand and to apply. The final decision of the actions to be taken among those proposed by the “machine” is then left to the “human” expert whose intelligence has been increased by data processing.
Augmented Analytics democratizes data and allows all companies, regardless of their size and the internal presence of data scientists, to govern their data, make them understandable, and easily transform them into strategic and tactical actions to support the business. Research firm Gartner estimates that the Augmented Analytics market will reach $1.88 billion by 2022, with a CAGR of 20.6 percent from 2017.
“In a new context like the one we have been experiencing for a few months now, people at all levels are developing a sense of trust, custom, and gratitude for digital tools that will never go away, thus becoming the new norm” – commented Fabrizio Milano d’Aragona, CEO of Datrix – “Datrix was born from the belief that a data-driven approach enabled by Artificial Intelligence is an incredible opportunity to increase the capabilities of those who operate in the market and beyond. We believe that this awareness should guide the actions of all companies to make them less fragile, more adaptive, and agile. Selecting useful and constantly updated and enriched data flows, equipping oneself with fast and simple execution tools, not only allows to activate a real digital transformation but will probably become more and more necessary for the survival of the companies themselves“.
According to Massimiliano Magrini, managing partner of United Ventures, “New technologies are profoundly changing the way we do business, and artificial intelligence applied to data plays an increasingly important role in business innovation processes. The diffusion and adoption of AI, also by small and medium enterprises, will be fundamental to support the Italian technological development and seize the opportunities of the data economy. Thanks to high-value proprietary technologies applicable to multiple industrial contexts and high-quality management with strong digital experience, Datrix is extremely well placed on the competitive landscape and has everything needed to become a reference player in Italy and Europe in the field of AI applied to data. We are excited to welcome Datrix into our portfolio and to support its work alongside national and international companies that want to apply a data-driven approach to their business“.