Nomad Data: AI-Driven Marketplace for Critical Business Data

Helping companies wade through the tsunami of alternative data

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Alumni Ventures portfolio company Nomad Data is leveraging AI to help businesses solve major data pain points. Nomad’s clients utilize its platform to manage internal data and connect to external data sources from a fast-growing online marketplace.

A Multi-Sided, Win-Win Data Platform

The world of data is large and expanding, with thousands of providers selling data for every imaginable intelligence need. Worldwide data creation is expected to reach 163 zettabytes by 2025 — ten times the amount produced in 2017.

Companies spent $22 billion on third-party data in 2021, including alternative data from IoT sources like financial transactions, satellites, and mobile phones. However, processing that data remains a significant challenge. Data brokers offer robust directories of available data, but without the ability for companies to match datasets to their unique business needs.

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Nomad allows businesses to access data-driven solutions through a centralized, secure platform. Clients first submit a detailed data request based on a specific business use case, and the interface uses AI to analyze Nomad’s data partners for a potential solution in just a few minutes.

If the platform finds a match, it provides the data seller with the requested information and connects with the client so they can negotiate directly. This process is a win-win for both sides, as Nomad’s clients quickly receive custom, high-quality data solutions, while data brokers are connected with highly motivated customers.

What We Liked About Nomad Data

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    Significant, Rapid Expansion

    Nomad is rapidly growing its available data with high profile providers. Since launching in 2020, the company has expanded from 250 to 2,000 data sources, including datasets from multinationals. While many companies hire full-time teams to manually search for the right data and partners, Nomad’s algorithm automatically matches a client’s data request with providers from this massive database.
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    Experienced Investor Syndicate

    Nomad’s recent seed round was led by Struck Capital, which specializes in seed and pre-seed B2B investments. Co-investor Bloomberg Beta, the corporate VC arm of Bloomberg, offers Nomad the potential for tremendous operational alignment as a provider of financial data. Nomad’s angel investors include Travis May, CEO of Datavant — a leading digital ecosystem for the exchange of healthcare data.
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    Compelling Value-Add

    Data customers have to navigate an untenable web of data providers to source, aggregate, and analyze data, which is critically important to enterprise success. Nomad simplifies this disparate process. “Nomad has saved me countless hours manually searching the web for data vendors to address a wide variety of topics,” said Michael Colucci from Bridgetree. He added that Nomad enables Bridgetree to access “niche data … at a moment's notice to quickly drive client outcomes.”*

Experienced Founder

CEO Brad Schneider has more than 20 years of diverse technology experience as an operator and investor. Schneider previously served as CEO of data analytics firm Adaptive Management, where he helped clients tackle the kind of data challenges that led him to launch Nomad.

Brad Schneider
Brad Schneider
Founder & CEO, Nomad Data

“When I was running Adaptive, I saw widespread interest from businesses in using data for better decision making. They all lacked software to allow them to become truly data driven businesses. This inspired me to start Nomad Data. We’re excited to make it possible to connect firms with a world of thousands of data vendors. Our software helps with identifying vendors to address business needs, tracking the testing and usage of that data and determining the value of the data to the business.”

How We Are Involved

Castor Ventures (for the MIT community) sponsored Alumni Ventures’ investment in Nomad’s $3.2 million seed round alongside Struck Capital, Bloomberg Beta, and other established VCs. Sibling fund Ring Ventures (for the Texas A&M community) and AV’s Total Access Fund also participated in the round. We previously invested in Nomad’s $1.6 million pre-seed round led by Bloomberg Beta.

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Contact [email protected] for additional information. To see additional risk factors and investment considerations, visit av-funds.com/disclosures.