ClearGraph

ClearGraph operated as a specialized enterprise search solutions provider, focusing on making large-scale data accessible to business users through natural language. The company was founded in 2014, initially named Arktos, by Andrew Vigneault and Ryan Atallah. Vigneault served as the CEO, while Atallah, a Stanford University alumnus in computer science and design, was the CTO. Their goal was to bridge the gap between humans and computers in data exploration. The company developed a proprietary semantic search platform utilizing context awareness and natural language processing (NLP).

The core of ClearGraph's service was its NLP technology, which allowed non-technical users to query complex, disparate enterprise data sources using plain English. For instance, a user could ask, “Total sales by customers who purchased staples in New York,” and then conversationally filter the results. The system was designed to infer user intent and did not require technical training. It stored semantic data in knowledge graphs that could learn and expand over time, continuously improving query results. This approach provided a consumer-like search experience for enterprise clients, aiming to simplify and speed up the process of gaining data-driven insights.

Financially, ClearGraph secured approximately $1.53 million in seed funding from investors, including Accel Partners, Greycroft, and Great Oaks Venture Capital. The company's trajectory culminated in a significant milestone on August 9, 2017, when it was acquired by Tableau Software for an undisclosed amount. Following the acquisition, the entire ClearGraph team, including founders Vigneault and Atallah, joined Tableau's development team in Palo Alto. The objective of the acquisition was to integrate ClearGraph's natural language query technology into Tableau's suite of products, enhancing its capabilities in conversational and augmented analytics.

Keywords: natural language processing, enterprise search, semantic search, data discovery, conversational analytics, knowledge graph, business intelligence, data analysis, Tableau acquisition, data query technology, Andrew Vigneault, Ryan Atallah, NLP, data visualization, semantic data, unstructured data analysis, smart data discovery, computational linguistics