News
Big Data Pioneer MapR Facing Financial Peril, Uncertain Future
- By Becky Nagel
- May 30, 2019
The future Silicon Valley-based Big Data unicorn MapR appears to be in crisis.
Founded in 2009 and once worth more than $1 billion, the company's staff is facing layoffs and could very well close its Santa Clara, Calif., headquarters, news reports say.
MapR's platform had shifted last year to take advantage of providing data services for the enterprise AI and analytics markets, stating, "MapR's newest innovations enable data scientists and developers to power distributed AI and analytics by leveraging all data for more impactful results," but it doesn't appear that the shift resonated with clients quickly enough for the company's bottom line.
According to this report today from Silicon Angle's Paul Gillin, the company had "extremely poor results" in the last quarter, and the company also lost a hoped-for investor.
Some salespeople have already been laid off, reports state.
Despite the dire news, the company appears to be continuing improvements to its products, recently announcing new AI and machine learning enhancements for the platform and improving integration with Kubernetes.
More information on MapR's platform and offerings can be found here.
About the Author
Becky Nagel is the vice president of Web & Digital Strategy for 1105's Converge360 Group, where she oversees the front-end Web team and deals with all aspects of digital projects at the company, including launching and running the group's popular virtual summit and Coffee talk series . She an experienced tech journalist (20 years), and before her current position, was the editorial director of the group's sites. A few years ago she gave a talk at a leading technical publishers conference about how changes in Web browser technology would impact online advertising for publishers. Follow her on twitter @beckynagel.