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CEO: How our Tampa data company raised $35M

Veronica Brezina

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Image: Unsplash.

Manta, an international data startup company with a Tampa HQ, has secured $35 million in Series B funding. 

Manta is a data lineage company based in Prague that established its U.S. HQ in Tampa last month. The new funding round was led by Forestay Capital, with participation from existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, SAP.io, Senovo, Credo Ventures, Dan Fougere and new investor European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, according to Manta’s Thursday announcement. 

The firm recently raised $13 million in a Series A funding round that was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, SAP.io, Senovo VC and Credo Ventures.

“Forestay, our lead investor, found us, and their timing was perfect (I usually don’t like fundraising inbound leads). After a few meetings, I had a strong feeling that these were people I’d want to work with, and I am happy that we became business partners,” Manta CEO Tomas Kratky said in an emailed statement regarding the firm’s $35 million investment journey.

“We had already done two rounds before – our seed and Series A – so I had a pretty good understanding of what the funding process would look like. However, one shift I noticed is that Series B funding was more about financials, sales efficiency and other critical metrics. Product and vision were still the cornerstones, but there was much more data and graphs around it than before.”

“Data is among an organization’s most valuable assets, and Manta’s automated platform is transforming the way data is managed with a clear and comprehensive visualization of all data flows, saving customers time, money and resources,” Marieke Christmann, senior principal at Forestay Capital, the lead investor, said in a release.  

Manta currently has 152 employees and operates out of WeWork in downtown Tampa where it has roughly 40 employees. The new investment is expected to ramp up the hiring and will have approximately 220 employees by the end of the year. 

Kratky told the St. Pete Catalyst about its local growth plan. “Our employees seem to enjoy it [working in Tampa] so we will likely stay in the general Tampa area. Though I would never say never to St. Petersburg, we’d need to get input from the team prior to making that decision. We’ll always go with whatever is best for our employees and right now that seems to be Tampa.”

He added: “One of the reasons that we chose Tampa is because it’s a growing tech hub. Although we knew that prior to moving operations here, I’ve been very surprised at exactly how quickly it’s growing. It seems like another tech company relocates here every other week, which has been great to see. On a more personal note, being from Czechia, one of my favorite things about this part of the world is the beaches. The white sand never gets old.”

Over the next two to three years, almost all of Manta’s accrued investments will go towards scaling. The funding will allow the company to continue its momentum and expand its global footprint and product development, Kratky said. 

Manta has a global presence with new offices in Lisbon, Portugal and Dublin, Ireland. 

“Manta is on a mission to eliminate data blind spots, providing companies with complete visibility and control of the most complex aspects of their data pipeline. Data is the lifeblood of every organization and is the most critical asset for enterprises today,” Kratky said. “Over the last decade, the complexity of the data stack has exploded, leaving most organizations struggling with several critical side effects including: a high number of material incidents, significant risk exposure, slow change management, and a significant amount of data engineering resources continuously wasted on routine, manual tasks.

“We are excited to continue our momentum by expanding our global presence and product development across ecosystems as more companies recognize the actual value of data lineage and observability.” 

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