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Founded in 2017, Knime is headquartered in Zurich and has additional offices in Berlin and Austin, Texas. The startup sells an enterprise software platform for data analytics, reporting, and integration. Its main product, the KNIME Analytics Platform, is an open-source software program used by data scientists and analysts to analyze and visualize their companies' data.
While Knime was built with the goal of democratizing data analytics via a low-code, open-source approach, advancements in generative AI advance are further advancing that ethos, explained Michael Berthold, the startup's co-founder and CEO. While the company has developed extensions to use on the Analytics Platform, users have also created their own AI tools to share with other users, he said.
"The AI extensions enable workflow builders to augment their analytics workflows with GenAI components," Berthold said. "this allows them to build custom GenAI bots, add safeguarding around GenAI tooling, and supercharge analytics work with GenAI functionality."
As generative AI rapidly evolves, the tech is creating new opportunities in the world of data analytics, including faster processing times, greater accuracy, predictive modeling, and computer-generated visualizations.
Many other startups in the space have recently raised funding as they double down on AI capabilities, including juggernauts Databricks, which last fall raised more than $500 million at a $43 billion valuation, and Hugging Face, which secured $235 million a year ago.
While Knime is much smaller by comparison, the startup says it now serves more than 400 enterprise customers, and its clients include Audi, Novartis, Bayer, the FDA, and P&G. Its user base, meanwhile, is nearing half a million people.
"With this round of funding, we'll continue investing in our GenAI governance capabilities and integrating new GenAI technologies as they evolve," Berthold said. We will also expand general data science and AI capabilities and focus on the wider US, Europe, Middle East, and Africa market, continuing to accelerate Knime's growth."
