Introducing DataVerse

The digital age has given rise to an explosion of data. This is visible in the fact that the number of chief data officers have increased 5x over the last decade. Integrating with various data sources and leveraging it is just one part of the equation CDOs solve. A far bigger challenge is optimising this large data set for different use cases and using it for business commercialisation. This requires tools and infrastructure that have never been created before. Data infrastructure is changing and maturing as more and more organisations build complex data systems. It is abundantly clear that navigating this modern data stack requires a new kind of thinking.

Our report with Google and GitHub found some interesting trendlines fueling the rise of devtools and infrastructure startups in the India and Southeast Asia region including the rising tide of data infrastructure startups out of this region.

Given the rapid rise of startups operating in this area, it was a conversation with Ravi Suhag Founder, Open DataOps Foundation, early this year that got us thinking about the lack of a cohesive community and best practices in the up and coming data industry.

At Lightspeed, our conversations with founders have only strengthened the belief that there is a need to build a common platform where stakeholders across the board can come together, learn, share and talk about different aspects of this very present data economy.

Dataverse is an initiative that is a one-of-its-kind platform for data infra enthusiasts. The platform is envisioned as an open community-led effort for data engineering and infrastructure leaders as well as founders across industries and stages of maturity, to share best practices around building data infrastructure, updates on data trends, tactics, and new tools. The idea is to interact and give access to founders and professionals to draw from the experiences of thought partners globally. We believe the time is right for such an initiative!

Collaborating with Ravi Suhag, we thrive to build this community and partner with the Open DataOps Foundation (ODPF). The ODPF aims to use open source principles to improve and strengthen the current data stack experience.

Over time, we plan to build this out as an advisory group that will help founders build for the modern data stack and provide them access to data engineering leaders for building out the right product-market fit.

Stay tuned as we bring the first of these Dataverse events to you soon! Meanwhile, always up for a chat. Hit me up on LinkedIn or DM me on Twitter.