Crayon Data, a Singapore-based big data and analytics start-up company, with a development centre in Chennai, has raised around Rs 8.7 crore (1.75 million Singapore Dollars) in its second round of fund raising.

Among the participants in the second round were Ravi Thakran, CEO of L Capital Asia and head of French group LVMH Asia Pacific, with brands such as Louis Vuitton and Fendi, Meng Wong, co-founder of Singapore’s leading accelerator Joyful Frog Digital Incubator, Ravi Mantha, President of TIE Singapore, William Bissell, Managing Director of FabIndia and Ernest Pomerantz, Chairman of Stonewater Capital, formerly Warburg Pincus partner.

Rise in valuation

“The success of this round reflects a valuation increase of 75 per cent from the previous round of funding, which was concluded at the end of 2012,” said Suresh Shankar, founder of Crayon Data.

Shankar, an IIM Calcutta alumnus, founded Crayon Data with a team of big data experts who have worked in companies such as IBM, Wipro and Sun Microsystems. Shankar was the CEO of tech company RedPill Solutions, which lBM acquired in 2009. He was associated with IBM till 2011, after which he founded the start-up at the end of 2012.

Last month, former Vivaki India chairperson Srikant Sastri joined the company as a co-founder. Crayon is to use the capital to enter strategic markets and also for product development. As of now, it has two key products — the SimplerChoices engine, which aims to help consumers make informed and smarter decisions about purchases, and One Analytics, to boost B2B sales.

Shankar said the SimplerChoice engine, which the company is developing out of Singapore and Chennai, is already attracting excitement in the marketplace. The company is planning to raise Series A funding early 2014.

amritanair.ghaswalla@thehindu.co.in

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