The B2B SaaS specialist MONDA raises USD 5 million
Berlin — Monda, the all-in-one data monetization platform, announced that it has raised USD 5 million in a seed funding round.
The round was led by Senovo and Acrobator Ventures, with participation from Techstars.
The capital will be used to expand business operations in the US, grow the partner ecosystem and expand the platform to enable any business to securely monetize data.
Monda’s software enables companies to start and scale a data services business.
Monda has seen strong growth in 2024 and the platform is now used by over 150 Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) companies that have created more than 6,000 data products.
Monda has built key partnerships and integrations with world-leading cloud platforms such as Google Cloud, Databricks and SAP.
Since the beginning of the year, the team has doubled to 32 employees.
In addition, Monda is opening its first US office in Boston in fall 2024 to be closer to North American customers, who make up 50% of its customer base.
Monda was founded by tech entrepreneurs and data experts Thani Shamsi and Richard Hoffmann
as a spin-off of Berlin-based Datarade, the world’s largest comparison platform for data providers. Thani Shamsi, founder and CEO of Monda, said: “AI has created a huge demand for high-quality and unique data sets to train AI models. Companies have recognized the monetization of their proprietary data for AI as a business opportunity, but face an increasingly complex global data market. Having worked for a data provider myself, I know these challenges first-hand. We have created Monda to enable any company to build a secure, growing and sustainable data services business — driving AI forward.” More and more AI companies are trying to secure access to proprietary data sets to train and refine their models — and are signing data licenses with data-rich companies like Reddit, Shutterstock, or Yelp. But technical, regulatory and operational challenges prevent companies from monetizing their data: Building a successful data-as-a-service business involves creating data products, integrating with data marketplaces, setting up data distribution, securely sharing data, handling data licenses, and managing compliance. Mona Gindler, Partner at Senovosaid: “As the sourcing and monetization of data moves into the mainstream, data providers need better tools to manage the increasing complexity of the data market. Monda helps them reach more customers while reducing operational overhead, putting the company in a strong position to lead this new software category. Thani and Richard have built a fantastic team and culture in Berlin. We are excited to support their expansion into the US with the new Boston office.” Monda’s data monetization platform has three key differentiators: First, the product is easy to use and allows business users to create data products and publish them to their own data storefront or data marketplaces in just a few clicks. Secondly, Monda’s vertical SaaS approach enables companies to run and manage their entire data services business on one platform. Thirdly, customers appreciate the first-class service and support from an international customer care team. Part of the seed funding will be used to further develop data integrations with cloud platforms, support unstructured data products and roll out additional compliance functionalities.
Richard Hoffmann, Founder and President of Monda, said: “The opening of our first US office in Boston is a pivotal moment for Monda, our US customers and for me personally. I am currently relocating with my family from Germany to the United States to fully dedicate myself to the success and growth of our US client base and local team. The US has always been our most important market as a pioneer in data and AI innovation.” About Monda Monda is a leading B2B SaaS company in the data services industry.
Monda’s all-in-one data monetization platform enables any business to securely share and monetize its proprietary data.
The company was founded in 2024 by Thani Shamsi and Richard Hoffmann as a spin-off of Datarade, the world’s largest comparison platform for data providers.
Monda’s vision is to create a global ecosystem for transparent, secure data sharing to accelerate the AI revolution and progress.
— https://www.monda.ai/ About Senovo Senovo is an early stage venture capital firm based in Munich and Berlin, partnering with exceptional founders and building global B2B SaaS category leaders from Europe.
As a European first-mover, the fund has been investing since 2013 in a new generation of B2B software start-ups that enable the digitalization of medium-sized and large companies.
Senovo invests after the first sales of a company in a late seed or Series A round.
The team of SaaS specialists looks for meaningful relationships at eye level and regularly publishes their insights and expertise on https://medium.com/senovovc. — https://senovo.vc About Acrobator Ventures Acrobator Ventures is an operator-led VC focused on (pre-)seed founders building technology and data companies.
The partners bring a deep understanding of AI/ML and operational excellence with a founder-first mentality.
— https://acrobator.vc