Alation
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Enterprise software |
| Founded | 2012 |
| Founder | Satyen Sangani, Aaron Kalb, Feng Niu, Venky Ganti |
| Headquarters | Redwood City , United States |
Area served | Worldwide (25+ international markets) |
Key people | Satyen Sangani (CEO) |
| Products | Alation Data Catalog |
Number of employees | 700+ (2022) |
| Website | alation |
Alation is a Silicon Valley-based company specializing in enterprise software solutions.
The company's primary offering, the Alation Data Catalog, debuted in 2015 to assist organizations in organizing and centralizing their data assets. It allows users to explore corporate data through natural language processing, promoting data democratization and enhancing accessibility across enterprises.
History
Established in 2012 by Satyen Sangani, Aaron Kalb, Feng Niu, and Venky Ganti, Alation was born from the founders’ combined knowledge in economics, AI, and machine learning. Sangani, formerly an Oracle executive with a background in economics, identified significant issues related to data reliability and access within large corporations. Kalb brought experience from working on Apple’s Siri project along with expertise in symbolic systems and crowdsourcing. Together, they built an AI-powered platform that connects data users with relevant information.
Alation’s first product—a data querying system driven by natural language processing—helped pioneer the modern data catalog sector. Over time, the platform advanced to accommodate sophisticated queries, collaborative workflows, and integrations with major platforms such as Snowflake, Tableau, and Databricks.
By early 2021, Alation supported more than 250 enterprise clients spanning various sectors including pharmaceuticals (such as AbbVie and Pfizer), financial services (Munich Re), aviation (Finnair), retail (New Balance), and technology (Cisco). This customer base grew to around 300 by late 2021, adding prominent organizations like GE Aviation, NASDAQ, and Regeneron.
In October 2021, Alation expanded its natural language query functionality for non-technical users by acquiring Lyngo Analytics. Subsequently, in January of the following year, CEO Satyen Sangani launched the “Data Radicals” podcast to foster discussions with business and tech leaders about strategic data utilization.
The company announced reaching $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) in September 2022, underscoring its rapid growth and market presence.
On May 20, 2025, Alation acquired Numbers Station AI to fast-track the creation of AI-native analytics solutions featuring agentic workflows combined with enterprise-grade governance—strengthening its position in AI-driven data technologies.
Funding
In March 2015, Alation secured $9 million during a Series A funding round led by Costanoa Ventures and Data Collective, coinciding with the launch of its flagship data catalog.
By June 2021, the firm raised $110 million in a Series D round spearheaded by Riverwood Capital. This round included investments from Sanabil Investments, Snowflake Ventures, and existing backers such as Costanoa Ventures, Dell Technologies Capital, Salesforce Ventures, and Sapphire Ventures. The valuation at this stage reached $1.2 billion, marking Alation as a unicorn within the data catalog market.
In November 2022, Alation completed a $123 million Series E funding round led by Thoma Bravo alongside Sanabil Investments and Costanoa Ventures. New participants included Databricks Ventures as well as returning investors Dell Technologies Capital, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Icon Ventures, Queensland Investment Corporation, Riverwood Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, and Union Grove.
To date, Alation has amassed $340 million in total funding with a valuation surpassing $1.7 billion following its most recent financing round.
Operations
Alation's main office is located in Redwood City, California, complemented by satellite locations in London and Chennai. The company operates across more than 25 international markets. By November 2022, its global workforce had expanded to exceed 700 employees, marking a 75% increase within a year.