Over a decade after the idea of “big data” was first born, data continues to be one of the most important and furiously growing innovation drivers across both large enterprises and new startups. From providing pulse checks that are foundational to business operations to intelligently automating daily tasks through machine learning, data has become the central nervous system for decision-making in organizations of all sizes. Moreover, the use of data now reaches well beyond data scientists, data analysts, and data engineers — everyone is a data producer and consumer. 

The result of this increased focus on data: The business of managing data has already become one of the fastest growing areas of infrastructure, estimated to be worth over $70B and accounts for over one-fifth of all enterprise infrastructure spend in 2021. The beauty of this market’s formation is that it marries the field of software engineering, analytics, and artificial intelligence, while riding the tidal momentum of cloud computing. (For more on the architectural evolution and driving forces behind this massive trend, see this piece, Emerging Architectures for Modern Data Infrastructure, which was just updated for 2022.)

The growth of the data industry has also given birth to some of the most exciting and impactful enterprise software companies in the last few years. Recent public juggernauts such as Snowflake and Confluent have already changed the way thousands of businesses operate and millions of products are built. However, most people are less familiar with the movers and shakers — the next generation of category-defining companies.

To help cut through the noise after a record-breaking 2021 in which data companies received tens of billions in venture capital investment — and an already strong 2022 — we’ve compiled the inaugural class of the Data50. These are the bellwether companies across the most exciting categories in data. In aggregate, these 50 companies are valued at more than $100B and have raised approximately $14.5B in total capital, with 20 having reached unicorn status by 2021.

Without further ado, we’re excited to introduce the Data50 of 2022. 

Over a decade after the idea of “big data” was first born, data continues to be one of the most important and furiously growing innovation drivers across both large enterprises and new startups. From providing pulse checks that are foundational to business operations to intelligently automating daily tasks through machine learning, data has become the central nervous system for decision-making in organizations of all sizes. Moreover, the use of data now reaches well beyond data scientists, data analysts, and data engineers — everyone is a data producer and consumer. 

The result of this increased focus on data: The business of managing data has already become one of the fastest growing areas of infrastructure, estimated to be worth over $70B and accounts for over one-fifth of all enterprise infrastructure spend in 2021. The beauty of this market’s formation is that it marries the field of software engineering, analytics, and artificial intelligence, while riding the tidal momentum of cloud computing. (For more on the architectural evolution and driving forces behind this massive trend, see this piece, Emerging Architectures for Modern Data Infrastructure, which was just updated for 2022.)

The growth of the data industry has also given birth to some of the most exciting and impactful enterprise software companies in the last few years. Recent public juggernauts such as Snowflake and Confluent have already changed the way thousands of businesses operate and millions of products are built. However, most people are less familiar with the movers and shakers — the next generation of category-defining companies.

To help cut through the noise after a record-breaking 2021 in which data companies received tens of billions in venture capital investment — and an already strong 2022 — we’ve compiled the inaugural class of the Data50. These are the bellwether companies across the most exciting categories in data. In aggregate, these 50 companies are valued at more than $100B and have raised approximately $14.5B in total capital, with 20 having reached unicorn status by 2021.

Without further ado, we’re excited to introduce the Data50 of 2022.