DataHug co-founder and CEO Connor Murphy
Dublin software start-up Datahug has secured US$3.2m in Series A financing from the venture capital firm DFJ Esprit, with the business networking automation company set to focus on its expansion into the US marketplace, as well as building its customer base.
Co-founded in 2010 by Connor Murphy and Ray Smith, Datahug aims to help companies drive sales and business development. Its solution works by indexing existing communication logs, such as emails, contacts and calendar data, to create an enterprise-wide picture of who knows who across a company’s network of connections.
The idea of Datahug is to allow companies to tap into previously unknown relationships to help with business development.
In 2010, Datahug won the Spark of Genius competition at the Dublin Web Summit. Then, in 2011, the start-up secured a US$1.5m investment to boost its customer acquisition and product development.
With the US$3.2m investment from DFJ Esprit, Datahug is now aiming to expand its presence in the US marketplace and beyond, as well as building on its customer base.
“DFJ Esprit is the perfect investor to support Datahug’s development because of its close relationship with Silicon Valley, and unique expertise in taking European businesses global,” said Murphy, CEO at Datahug. “This latest injection of finance will enable us to take advantage of the major market opportunity available to us, and continue at a rapid rate of growth.”
The deal is DFJ Esprit’s fourth in Ireland this year, following investments in Imagine Communications, Mobile Travel Technologies and GetBulb.
