French BI startup Toucan Toco raises first funding: €12 million from Balderton Capital

Toucan Toco, Paris-based data storytelling startup, has raised its first-ever funding with a €12 million led by Balderton Capital. Since its launch in 2014, the French startup has self-financed its way to profitability. Toucan Toco is a data visualisation software that makes business intelligence easy to understand for non-technical decision makers, including CxOs, HR directors, financial managers and other operational roles. With a drag-and-drop interface and plenty of templates, the app is so easy to use that it has an end-user adoption rate of 90 percent. As a result, Toucan Toco has garnered some prestigious clientele. Renault-Nissan uses the technology across its 5000 car dealerships. President Emmanuel Macron and his ministers also chose the solution to track the progress of his reforms. Commenting on the state of BI software, CEO Charles Miglietti said: “Worldwide investments over the past two decades have amounted to more than $200 billion, but BI is still not fully delivering on its promises. Toucan Toco has the ability to complement first-generation BI players such as MicroStrategy, Cognos or Business Objects without having to spend a fortune.” As for what this first investment will go toward, Miglietti explained: "With this funding, we want to accelerate our growth, in Europe, and particularly in the United States. We want to go further and become a leader in each of our markets.” Over the next year, the company aims to double its team in the United States. Miglietti will also relocate to Boston and a new country manager will be appointed in the Netherlands. Product development will get a boost, too. Toucan Toco plans to launch a new "business in a box" offering. Users will be able to pick one of many ready-to-use data storytelling templates and connect it with various data sources, such as Stripe, Shopify or LightSpeed, creating a bespoke tool in minutes.