Data.world raises $18.7 million to remedy our post-fact society | TechCrunch

"As our society continues to devalue facts and statistics, Data.world, a two year old data collaboration startup out of Austin, Texas, is fighting back with its passionate community of data nerds. Today the company is announcing a $18.7 million Series B led by Pat Ryan’s family investment group to further build out its platform for aggregating and analyzing data.

CEO Brett Hurt and CPO Jon Loyens explained to TechCrunch that the growth of Data.world is really indicative of the broader movement towards more open data. Like Github and the open source developer movement before it, Data.world wants to drive the data philanthropy movement forward by breaking down the barriers to finding data and working with others to extract insights.

Data.world is a B Corp, meaning that its governing documents mandate it be accountable for creating value for society, rather than just money for shareholders. Through data philanthropy, Data.world hopes to help companies see the benefits of sharing their data. In the post-fact world we find ourselves, data is both an economic and social good. The same spreadsheets that form the bedrock of startups also enable government transparency and shed light on marginalized communities."