Funds for Spreadsheet-Based Analytics Company Scoop

San Francisco-based Scoop Analytics has raised $3.5m in seed funding, for use in expanding the functionality of its spreadsheet-based data management, analysis and presentation software.

Scoop says its tools make it easy for 'anyone with spreadsheet skills to get data from any application, blend data from different sources and tell visually compelling data stories through slide presentations based on live, drillable data'. Former financial analyst Brad Peters (pictured) co-founded the company, having earlier created and sold data-driven decision-making software firm Birst - his Scoop co-founders, CTO Gabe Jakobson and Head of Customer Janet Gehrmann previously led visualization and SMB go-to-market at Birst.

The round was led by Ridge Ventures, with participation from Industry Ventures and returning investor Engineering Capital. Ridge Partner Yousuf Khan joins the board of Scoop.

Peters, who is Scoop's CEO, comments: 'With the support and added expertise of these partners, Scoop is strongly positioned to eliminate the wasted time and money companies spend preparing data for business analytics and take our work to empower operations teams in finance, marketing and revenue to the next level'.

The firm is online at www.scoopanalytics.com .