Mu Sigma, a provider of analytics and data-driven decision support services for enterprise customers, has raised $108 million in funding in a round led by growth equity firm General Atlantic.
The financing comes about half a year after Mu Sigma raised $25 million from Sequoia Capital, which also participated in this round.
Headquartered in Chicago with most of its 1,500+ employees working out of Bangalore, India, Mu Sigma is a professional services firm that helps companies analyze ‘big data’to “institutionalize decision support”.
In a statement, Mu Sigma says it is already profitable and able to finance its operations on its own, but that it raised more venture capital to ‘accelerate growth’.
A portion of the new capital will be used to purchase shares held by existing shareholders, but the company did not disclose which shareholders and how much of the $108 million injection will be reserved for the buybacks.
Mu Sigma did say all current shareholders will retain stakes in the company.
More in this Wall Street Journal article.
Filed under: #mktgcloud, Algorithms, Data, Datarati, Sydney Data Miners | Tags: Data Mining
Filed under: Algorithms, Analytics, Behavioural Targeting, Business Intelligence, Datarati, Web Analytics | Tags: Obama
Some of the millions of dollars raised by President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign could be used to build one of the most innovative internal data operations ever for a political campaign. Obama for America has been hiring data quants, and recently posted job openings for predictive modeling and data mining analysts, along with state data directors. The strategic approach to data inside the campaign could help it better integrate offline and online data gleaned from social media and other online interactions.
OFA is developing an in-house Analytics Department to be based at the Chicago campaign headquarters. Staff there will work with state data directors to be based in several states, according to a job posting on the OFA site. The Chicago office will also have data desks responsible for various regions of the country.
The campaign is also seeking predictive modeling and data mining analysts who would be responsible for developing statistical and predictive models to assist in digital media, as well as for fundraising and other media. The analysts will be expected to have experience with digital media, online advertising data, Nielsen, and Arbitron data, in addition to text data. The job description, posted on data mining resource site KDnuggets, notes that text mining and social media analytics “is a plus.”
“It points to an extraordinarily high level of data integration inside the Obama campaign,” said Alex Lundry, VP and research director at TargetPoint Consulting, a microtargeting and data mining firm that works with Republican candidates and organizations, including the Republican National Committee, Mitt Romney’s 2008 presidential primary campaign, and John McCain’s ’08 presidential campaign. “It’s a much more holistic view of the voter from a data perspective, and you don’t see many GOP candidates doing that,” he added.
More: http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2094531/obama-builds-team-inform-digital-ads-social
Out of 204,508 recorded passcodes, the top ten most common were: [1234, 0000, 2580, 1111, 5555, 5683, 0852, 2222, 1212, 1998]
Naturally, 1234 is the most common passcode: mimicking the most common internet passwords.
To put this into perspective, these 10 codes represent 15% of all passcodes in use.
Most of the top passcodes follow typical formulas, such as four identical digits, moving in a line up/down the pad, repetition. 5683 is the passcode with the least obvious pattern, but it turns out that it is the number representation of LOVE (5683), once again mimicking a very common internet password: “iloveyou.”
Thanks: http://flowingdata.com/2011/06/20/most-common-iphone-passcodes/
Filed under: #mktgcloud, Algorithms, Analytics, Data, Datarati | Tags: Data
How did a public health official from Sweden become the world’s most famous statistician, a television personality and a regular guest speaker at corporate events?
As an undergraduate, Hans Rosling studied statistics and medicine at Uppsala University, Sweden. He earned a PhD, spent two decades studying in Africa and, as chairman of the Karolinska International Research and Training Committee, has collaborated with universities in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.
FULL STORY: http://thinkquarterly.co.uk/01-data/a-data-state-of-mind/
Filed under: #mktgcloud, Algorithms, Analytics, Datarati | Tags: Datarati, IBM, Watson
Over the last century, IBM has reached numerous scientific breakthroughs through its commitment to research and its tradition of Grand Challenges. These Grand Challenges work to push science in ways that weren’t thought possible before.
Jeopardy! The IBM Challenge poses a specific question with very real business implications: Can a system be designed that applies advanced data management and analytics to natural language in order to uncover a single, reliable insight — in a fraction of a second?
So – WHY JEOPARDY?
The IBM Jeopardy! Challenge is more than a game. Jeopardy! makes great demands on its players-and even greater demands on a computer system.
Learn about the unique hurdles Jeopardy! presents that Watson must overcome in order to achieve the scientific goals of the project.
A SYSTEM DESIGNED FOR ANSWERS
A computer system that can understand natural language and deliver a single, precise answer to a question requires the right combination of hardware and software.
Watch to find out how Watson integrates both into a unique solution.
COUNTDOWN TO JEOPARDY
Watson will soon face the two greatest Jeopardy! champions in history: Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings.
Watch to find out more about the competitors in this historic challenge.
THE FACE OF WATSON
Watson consists of 90 servers – not the most interesting thing to look at on the Jeopardy! stage.
See how IBM worked to create a representation of this computing system for the viewing audience – from its stage presence to its voice.
WATSON AFTER JEOPARDY
Watson was optimised to tackle a specific challenge: competing against the world’s best Jeopardy! contestants. Beyond Jeopardy!, the IBM team is working to deploy this technology across industries such as healthcare, finance and customer service.
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Filed under: #mktgcloud, Algorithms, Analytics, Data, Datarati, Statistics
In recent years, the job market has increasingly rewarded math whizzes at the expense of less technical professionals. Actuary, Mathematician andAccountant have all ranked among the best jobs in America by offering a pleasant work environment, good salary and healthy job security.
But in 2011, as the emergence of specialised technologies creates new industries, landing the year’s best job requires not just skill with numbers, but a strong knowledge of computers too.
Full Story: http://www.analyticbridge.com/profiles/blogs/the-10-best-jobs-of-2011
Filed under: #mktgcloud, Algorithms, Analytics, Data, Datarati | Tags: Data Mining, Kaggle
Starting in early April, Kaggle will be hosting the world’s biggest-ever data mining competition – the$3m Heritage Health Prize. The Heritage Provider Network (HPN) is a network of affiliated medical groups and physicians that is dedicated to helping solve a critical issue facing the United States: how to improve the quality of healthcare while at the same time decreasing the cost of providing that care.
Kaggle is immensely proud to be providing the platform for this competition, which we hope will result in those most in need getting faster and cheaper access to healthcare.
If you haven’t yet tried entering a Kaggle competition, we strongly suggest you start getting involved, to start sharpening your skills and building your network.
There are four interesting and varied competitions on the site right now and by getting involved, you’ll learn a lot about how to compete effectively and may make some great relationships with other competitors, who you could team up with in the $3m prize.
More: http://www.kaggle.com
Filed under: #mktgcloud, Actionable Insights, Algorithms, Analytics, Datarati, Datarati.TV | Tags: Actionable Insights
Are organizations generating more answers from analytics than they can act on? Join MIT Sloan Management Review’s Michael S. Hopkins in a virtual panel discussion of this question and the findings of the special report, “Analytics: The New Path to Value.”
READ THE FULL REPORT ONLINE:
Analytics: The New Path to Value.
DOWNLOAD THE REPORT:
Analytics: The New Path to Value.
This video is a recording of a live webcast held Thursday, November 11.
Panelists
- Steve LaValle, global strategy leader for IBM’s Business Analytics and Optimization service line.
- Michael Hopkins, MIT Sloan Management Review’s editor-in-chief
- Erik Brynjolfsson, director of the MIT Center for Digital Business and the Schussel Family Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management
- Stephen Baker, author of The Numerati
