CData is a data connectivity company that simplifies access to any data anywhere. Pulse 2.0 interviewed CData Chief Product Officer Manish Patel to learn more about the company.
Manish Patel’s Background
Could you tell me more about your background? Patel said:
“As CData’s product leader, I’m responsible for defining our strategic vision and roadmap, ensuring we deliver innovative solutions that empower businesses to unlock the full potential of their data. With over 15 years of experience in product management across SaaS companies like Tier1, Valassis Digital, and Ipreo, I’ve developed a passion for building customer-centric products that drive meaningful business outcomes.”
“I hold a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Westminster and am Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) certified, which has shaped my approach to fostering collaboration and agility in product development. My career has been dedicated to growing both packaged software and cloud-based offerings, guided by a deep belief in the transformative power of data.”
“Outside of work, I love diving into emerging technologies and trends in data analytics. I’m passionate about pushing boundaries, creating solutions that make data more accessible, and inspiring teams to innovate every day.”
Market Challenges
What market challenges is CData addressing? Patel noted:
“At CData, we’re tackling some of the most pressing challenges in data connectivity and integration to help businesses thrive in today’s data-driven world. One of the biggest issues we see is the immense burden on IT teams, with many spending the majority of their time managing complex data environments. We aim to alleviate this by providing streamlined, no-code connectivity solutions that free up time for innovation and strategic projects.”
“Another challenge we’re addressing is the gap in data connectivity and preparation for AI initiatives. Too often, organizations dive into AI without ensuring their data is clean and accessible, which can limit the potential of their projects. Our platform ensures data is ready to deliver real value.”
“We’re also focused on data governance and security, helping businesses navigate regulations like GDPR with tools for centralized auditing and permission control. Finally, we support flexible connectivity across hybrid and multi-cloud environments to meet the evolving needs of modern organizations.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Patel explained:
“At CData, our core products are designed to simplify and streamline data connectivity for businesses. With CData Drivers, we provide direct, SQL-based access to over 250+ SaaS, NoSQL, and Big Data sources, allowing users to seamlessly connect their data to popular tools like Excel, Tableau, and Power BI.”
“CData Connect Cloud takes data integration to the next level by offering a no-code platform that enables real-time connectivity and transformation across cloud and on-premises systems. It’s perfect for organizations adopting hybrid or multi-cloud strategies.”
“With CData Virtuality, we deliver an enterprise semantic layer, letting users access and query disparate data sources as if they were a single database. This reduces complexity and ensures real-time insights without data duplication.”
“CData Arc is our no-code integration platform that enables businesses to automate and streamline data exchange through EDI, MFT, and API workflows. It provides secure, reliable connectivity between systems, simplifying B2B integrations without complex coding.”
“Lastly, CData Sync is our powerful ETL solution, designed to extract, transform, and load data into leading data warehouses and platforms like Snowflake or Redshift. Together, our products empower businesses to unlock the full potential of their data.”
Partnerships With OEMs
What types of OEM and embedded technology partnerships do you have? Patel replied:
“At CData, we partner with leading OEMs and technology providers to embed our data connectivity solutions into their applications, enhancing their capabilities and delivering seamless data access for their users. Partners like Salesforce, Google Cloud and Workday embed our Drivers or Connect Cloud platform to enable real-time connectivity to hundreds of data sources directly within their product. These integrations power advanced analytics, reporting, and workflow automation without requiring end-users to manage complex data connections.”
“By embedding our technology, our partners can deliver robust, scalable, and secure data connectivity as a core feature of their product, accelerating time to market, improving customer satisfaction, and allowing them to focus on their core innovations.”
Customer Success Stories
Can you share any specific customer success stories? Patel highlighted:
“We’ve had the privilege of working with many organizations to improve their IT operations and data integration. A notable success story comes from a large financial services company that needed to streamline their data management across multiple platforms. By implementing our CData Connect Cloud and CData Drivers, they were able to integrate data from diverse sources like CRM systems, financial databases, and cloud applications into their centralized analytics platform, significantly improving reporting efficiency and reducing manual data handling.”
“Another success story involves a global retail chain facing challenges in managing real-time inventory and sales data across different regions. With CData Sync, we enabled them to sync data from their ERP systems into their cloud data warehouse, ensuring that decision-makers had up-to-date information at all times, improving operational efficiency and decision-making.”
“NJM Insurance streamlined its data integration processes using CData Sync to efficiently replicate data from its operational systems into Snowflake. By automating their data pipelines, NJM eliminated manual data movement, improved data accuracy, and enhanced reporting capabilities. This enabled faster decision-making and better insights, helping the company optimize its insurance operations.”
“Scorpion leveraged CData Connect Cloud to integrate data from multiple sources into its Snowflake data warehouse without complex coding. Our real-time connectivity streamlined their analytics, enhanced operational efficiency, and accelerated their data-driven decision-making. By eliminating manual data handling, we helped Scorpion ensure accuracy and scalability as the digital marketing technology company continues to grow.”
“These successes showcase how our solutions help companies optimize their IT operations, simplify data workflows, and drive better business outcomes.”
Funding/Milestones
Are you able to discuss funding and/or revenue metrics, along with some of the company’s most significant milestones recently? Patel revealed:
“We’ve recently reached a significant milestone with the successful $350 million funding raise, which marks a key moment in our growth and ability to scale. This funding will enable us to accelerate innovation across our core products—CData Drivers, CData Connect Cloud, CData Sync, and CData Virtuality—to better serve our customers and meet the increasing demand for seamless data integration and connectivity.”
“With this capital infusion, we plan to expand our offerings, increase our market presence, and invest in enhancing our technology stack, particularly in cloud data integration and real-time data access. We’ve seen strong adoption across various industries, including financial services, healthcare, and retail, and this investment will allow us to further enhance our products to address emerging challenges in data management and analytics.”
“In addition to this funding milestone, we’ve made notable advancements such as expanding our integrations with leading platforms like Snowflake and Databricks. This growth is not only a testament to our team’s hard work but also reflects the increasing importance of real-time data access and integration in today’s data-driven world. We’re excited about what the future holds as we continue to innovate and drive value for our customers.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Patel affirmed:
“We differentiate ourselves from competitors through our unique combination of ease of use, comprehensive data source coverage, and focus on real-time, seamless integration. Our connectors have a depth of capability that comes from years of development and real-life customer usage across our direct and OEM customers. Unlike many other data connectivity providers, our solutions allow businesses to connect to over 250+ data sources, including SaaS, NoSQL, and Big Data platforms, with minimal setup and no coding required. This flexibility makes it easy for both technical and non-technical users to integrate and access data in real time, without the need for complex configurations.”
“Another key differentiator is our focus on both data movement and live data access integration patterns. Customers can utilize CData Sync to replicate data into any database or warehouse and also leverage CData Connect Cloud or Virtuality to access live data in the variety of apps and data platforms they utilize to run their business.”
“Additionally, our solutions are designed with scalability and security in mind. We provide enterprise-level data governance features like centralized auditing, encryption, and compliance with data privacy regulations, ensuring businesses can trust us with their most sensitive data. This combination of flexibility, real-time access, and robust security sets us apart in the data integration space.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of CData’s future company goals? Patel concluded:
“Our goals center on driving innovation in data integration to empower businesses with seamless access to their data, regardless of where it resides. We aim to expand our portfolio of data integration solutions, ensuring compatibility with emerging technologies and evolving enterprise needs. We’re focused on enhancing our cloud offerings to support hybrid and multi-cloud environments, enabling organizations to achieve faster and more secure data movement and analytics. Additionally, we plan to strengthen partnerships with technology providers and platforms to create a broader ecosystem of integrated tools. By emphasizing scalability, security, and user-centric design, we seek to simplify the complexities of data management, helping businesses unlock actionable insights and improve decision-making. These efforts align with our mission to make data more accessible and useful for organizations worldwide.”
