AI-based Location Intelligence Startup Data Sutram Raises $2.07 Mn in Latest Funding Round to Scale Up

Founders of Data Sutram

The company provides intel on people & places with data from over 250+ sources

The fresh funds will be used to build and enhance new and existing products respectively as well as scale to new geographies & sectors.

In today's world where data is the new oil, alternate data plays a crucial role in business decision-making. With the aim to help bridge this gap between business growth and data requirements across various business functions and operations, location intelligence startup DataSutram has announced a USD 2.07 million in a funding round led by Varanium Capital and Yatra Angel Network. 

The round also saw participation from DMI Finance’s Sparkle Fund, White Ventures, Seeders LLP, the notable angel investors from the banking and financial services domain, and existing investors: IIFL Fintech Fund and Indian Angel Network.

Founded in 2018, Data Sutram was founded by engineers from Jadavpur University - Rajit Bhattacharya, Aisik Paul, and Ankit Das - to make actionable insights readily available for every address in India. The proprietary AI and ML-driven data engine automatically converts raw unstructured data from satellites, mobile phones, POS machines, and several other sources to create insights that capture how people live and behave, available for any location upto 100m granularity.

Commenting on the announcement, Rajit Bhattacharya, Co-founder, and CEO, Data Sutram said, “Today, India is home to the fastest-growing data science communities, however, the challenge here is- without the right data, all these AI & ML models are going to be ‘garbage-in & garbage-out. With Data Sutram, the idea is to create actionable data that people can act on & take decisions that give an incremental lift to business operations”

“The Insurance, Lending & Banking sectors have been showing significant shifts in the last decade. This brings in a growing need for fintech and traditional companies to use alternative intelligence and enhance customer acquisition, credit underwriting, and distribution planning. Data Sutram is addressing these challenges and is playing an active role in bridging this gap” said Aparajit Bhandarkar, Partner, Varanium NexGen Fund.

Data Sutram provides sector-focused data packages that help companies acquire customers, understand the credit risk at an address level, open ATMs, branches, stores, plan resources, do competitor benchmarking and enhance their overall growth strategy. Post this round, the startup is looking to scale its operations beyond India to South-East Asia & the Middle East and further invest in new data sources. The company has earlier also raised funds from 100xVC, Indian Angel Network, and IIFL Fintech Fund.

To know more about the company, please visit : https://datasutram.com/

Kolkata-based Data Sutram raises INR 2 crore from Indian Angel Network

Data Sutram is an AI-backed platform that gathers intel from external data to provide location-based data intelligence

In the face COVID-19 when startups are facing unprecedented challenges for survival, Data Sutram, a Kolkata-based early stage tech startup has raised funding of Rs 2 crore. The funding round was led by Indian Angel Network (IAN) angels Uday Sodhi, Mitesh Shah and Nitin Jain.

Established in 2018 by three Jadavpur University engineering graduates, Rajit Bhattacharya, Aisik Paul, and Ankit Das, Data Sutram is an AI-backed platform that gathers intel from external data to provide location-based data intelligence.

There is massive availability of valuable insights that lie in the form of unstructured data from multiple resources. These data need to be processed, cleaned, geotagged and converted into usable data that can be readily utilized by a business.

Data Sutram aims to resolve this problem as it uncovers raw data sources and calculates socio-economic parameters like demography, ethnicity, affluence, spending capacity, and a host of other parameters to understand a location.  The B2B focused startup helps a business by pinpointing new locations for a business to expand, improving the performance of existing assets (both physical and digital), and micro-targeting the right audience for the product. Starting at 12 data sources, the engine currently taps into over 200+ data sources in a span of 6 months to garner intelligence.

Speaking on the latest development, Uday Sodhi, Lead Investor at IAN said, “It is heartening to see start-ups such as Data Sutram using cutting-edge technology tapping unstructured data and insight to create innovative solutions for the B2B market. Its unique, tech-led approach is solving some of the most pressing problems for a large consumer base by developing a predictive analytics solution to help bridge the demand-supply gap. We hope our contribution will help the company realize its potential to the fullest and wish the founders continued success.”

Even in these testing times, the Location Intelligence platform has been working relentlessly to find out the availability of products by using multiple data sources and running its analytics engines to predict demand.

Rajit, Co-founder, Data Sutram said, “In a post coronavirus infected world, location has proved to be a crucial factor. Everyone is now more aware of location-based decision making like geo-fencing, geo-targeting, and the impact of location-specific action. When the 21-day lockdown was announced, a number of people went into panic buying. There was extensive shortages of essential goods across stores due to a surge in demand. With our ability to make use of unstructured data, Data Sutram’s platform helped companies to identify areas to deliver goods, ensuring the shortages were met and also increasing the market share. We are delighted to get IAN on board as an investor and will leverage the capital infusion to strengthen our platform in providing enhanced services to our consumers.”

At present the start-up is focused on retail-specific sectors such as pharmacy, FMCG and grocery, with plans of expansion into the BFSI, agritech, and media and entertainment in the future.

Earlier this year, Data Sutram was a part of the seed stage VC 100X VC’s first class  of 20 companies. Data Sutaram raised Rs 25 lakh from 100X.VC.

About Indian Angel Network:-

 Indian Angel Network is India’s first and world’s largest business angel network with close to 500 members across the world, comprising the who’s who of successful entrepreneurs and dynamic CEOs. With investors from 11 countries, IAN’s presence spans 7 locations, which includes cities in India and the UK.  The network is sector agnostic and has funded start-ups across 17 sectors in India and 7 other countries growing global footprint companies. With an excellent track record, IAN has been giving excellent cash exits year-on-year to its investor-members. Some of its marquee investee companies include WebEngage, Druva, Box8, Sapience Analytics, WOW Momos, Consure amongst many others.

The IAN Fund, an INR 375 crore fund, is a uniquely differentiated seed/early stage Fund which aims to transform India’s entrepreneurial landscape. The fund invests in innovative companies in sectors including healthcare and medical devices, VR, AI, software as a service, marketplaces, fin-tech, big data, artificial intelligence, agritech and hardware. The Fund leverages and builds upon the strengths and success of IAN, the world’s largest angel investor group, to breed and grow innovative companies.