Snowplow Analytics raises £4 million to fuel its open-source data collection platform

Snowplow Analytics, a London-based startup that helps businesses collect and own their customer data, has closed a £4 million funding round from research-led VC firm MMC Ventures.

Motivated from their own frustration when trying to use legacy analytics tools, Alexander Dean and Yali Sassoon founded Snowplow in 2012. The result is an open-source platform that enables companies to collect their own customer behavioural data across their entire digital estates.

Dean, now CEO, explained: “Snowplow was founded with the aim of freeing data teams from the constraints imposed by traditional analytics vendors. Every industry now has its ‘Amazon’, ‘AirBnB’ or ‘Uber’: a determined tech or product-led disruptor that is using data to drive insights. In this new world, there’s an increased demand for organisations to become much more data-informed. Snowplow helps data teams build that strategic foundation for their customer data.

Snowplow has over 150 customers across a broad range of sectors and geographies, including Strava, La Presse The Economist, Weebly, Hudl, Auto Trader, Omio and Secret Escapes. The funding will support the company’s continued expansion in the US and Europe and further product development.

Commenting on the investment, Dean continued: “It’s fantastic to have the MMC Ventures team on board as our first VC investor. Ollie and the team showed huge engagement with our product and real enthusiasm for what we’re doing, so it felt an obvious, natural fit. We’re excited to see how their support will spur us on in this next phase of growth.”

Oliver Richards, investment director at MMC Ventures, said: “Having experienced the limitations of traditional analytics solutions first-hand, Alex and the team have demonstrated a real understanding of their customers’ pain-points, which is obvious in their impressive roster of clients across a huge range of sectors. Needless to say, we’ve been very impressed with how Snowplow has grown its team and technology organically without funding to this point, and we’re delighted to be central to the next exciting stage of growth.”