Ayasdi’s Iris platform has been designed to help organisations find answers to questions they did not know to ask, according to its founders Gurjeet Singh and Gunnar Carlsson.

It combines computer science and a branch of mathematics known as Topological Data Analysis to visualise entire datasets so users can uncover patterns, doing away with what Singh and Carlsson call the current “flawed” query-based approach to big data analysis.

“This approach has two fundamental flaws,” the business partners say. “First, all queries are based on human assumptions and bias. Secondly, query results only reveal slices of data and do not show relationships between similar groups of data… It’s a game of chance.”

Iris is currently being used in drug, disease and energy research projects, as well as to predict fraud and analyse and prevent terrorist attacks.

The financing round was led by Khosla Ventures and Floodgate.

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