Lightdash, an open-source business intelligence (BI) platform, has successfully raised $11 million in Series A funding, signaling a new era for self-serve data analytics. As companies generate massive amounts of data, the need for intuitive BI tools that allow non-technical users to analyze and optimize business operations has grown rapidly.
Traditional BI platforms often silo data, require significant SQL expertise, and struggle to integrate with modern tools. Lightdash, founded in 2021 by Hamzah Chaudhary and Oliver Laslett, aims to change this. With a developer-first workflow, the platform draws on best practices from software engineering to streamline BI processes, integrating seamlessly with modern data stacks and tools like dbt, Slack, and Google Sheets. This empowers both technical teams and non-technical users to harness the power of data without deep technical knowledge.
Lightdash has made strides since its 2022 seed round, experiencing a 50x increase in platform usage and launching Lightdash Cloud, its first commercial product. The platform now processes nearly two queries per second, with over 80% of queries coming from non-technical users.
The new funding will drive further development, including Lightdash’s AI analyst service, which offers personalized insights for specific teams within organizations. This feature allows users to ask questions in natural language and receive tailored, context-specific data insights—no SQL required.
Accel led the funding round, with participation from Operator Partners, Shopify Ventures, Y Combinator, and notable angel investors. The investment will allow Lightdash to expand its developer teams and enhance its product offerings across the US and Europe.