One of Baltimore’s fastest-growing companies has raised $40 million in venture capital funding to use artificial intelligence to help businesses predict wider market trends.
Impact Analytics CEO Prashant Agrawal plans to use the capital raised to expand internationally into Europe, Latin America and Asia. The company also hopes to grow beyond its focus on helping retail clients like Tommy Hilfiger and DICK’S Sporting Goods and move into the manufacturing industry.
The firm uses sales data and other metrics to improve supply chains and help companies know what products to stock. For example, Impact Analytics can use its data pool, which combines internal company sales and outside numbers, to tell a firm when to expect a spike in sales so it can prepare to have extra inventory, Agrawal said.
Connecticut venture capital firm Sageview Capital led the round, with additional support from Canadian company Vistara Growth. Jeff Klemens, a partner at Sageview Capital and Prashanth Palakurthi, a senior advisor at Sageview Capital, will join Impact’s board of directors. Agrawal said he met the team from Sageview Capital at a national retail foundation conference five years ago.
The company has grown massively since that meeting, increasing its revenue by 2,035% since 2019 to earn a spot on last year's Inc. 5000 list as the fastest-growing company in Greater Baltimore. The company has also been successful in the venture capital markets, raising $11 million in 2021 and another $10 million in 2022.
The additional capital also means Agrawal has the finances necessary to take advantage of potential acquisition opportunities. Argrawa said the company is open to acquiring other firms, but that the company is still focused on organic growth through adding new customers.
The company is set to continue to benefit from the explosion of interest in artificial intelligence as firms try to figure out how to use the technology to analyze giant sets of data. Maryland's AI industry is set to grow after Baltimore was designated as a federal tech hub to explore the connection between AI and healthcare. There are even some companies exploring the artistic aspects of AI with Mindgrub using the software to compose music for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
