We’re pleased to announce that Infochimps has acquired DataMarketplace.com. We’ve been admiring what they have been doing for awhile now, so we jumped at the opportunity when it presented itself. Datamarketplace.com is a Y-Combinator funded company, founded by Steve DeWald and Matt Hodan at the beginning of this year, with the original vision to be the “Amazon for structured information.â€
When I met with Steve to chat about his vision, it was apparent that our two companies shared many of the same philosophies and visions for the future of Big Data. Hell, even our platforms are built upon many similar foundations and tools, like Ruby on Rails and Heroku. So, the transition has been smooth, and the site is already running on Infochimps servers.
From the Co-Founder and CTO of DataMarketplace.com, Steve DeWald:
Data is one of the most valuable assets in the world. We use it for decisions every day, and enormous industries are built around compiling and organizing it. It costs almost nothing to share, but despite that there is no single pervasive marketplace for buying and selling data. That’s the problem we tried solving with Data Marketplace.
It’s a problem because the fragmented nature of data creates friction for those wanting to share it. As a seller of data, there’s no easy or standardized way for to monetize it. Often times the expectation is to sell it in an expensive research report and have the raw data separately available by request. That’s fine, but that’s only capturing a fraction of a fraction of percent of all the useful data that people could be selling. Likewise there’s a lot of data people want to be selling that potential buyers can’t find. As a consumer of data, I often search on Google for the data I’m looking for, though frequently the data I want is behind a pay-wall and keywords are not being properly indexed for search. All these problems could be solved for the betterment of humanity with standardized and open marketplace for data.
Although Matt and I have moved on to other projects (I’m selling custom made suits online), I am happy to be putting our work in the hands of the talented team at InfoChimps, which has built the world’s largest open marketplace for data.
Thanks for the kind words, Steve.
We’re excited to integrate DataMarketplace.com into Infochimps. As Nick Ducoff, Infochimps CEO, says:
Just as Salesforce recently extended their brand with database.com, we’re extending ours with DataMarketplace.com, which fits well into our overarching strategy to be the destination on the web for data and data services.
Q & A’s relating to acquisition:
If I have uploaded my data to DataMarketplace.com, what’s going to happen with it?
Will it still be available for purchase, and will I receive my royalties? All datasets that are available on DataMarketplace.com will soon be available through Infochimps.com, and will continue to live on DataMarketplace.com. Customers will still be able to browse and purchase the data, and we will ensure that you receive your royalties from sales of that data.
What will happen to my user account on DataMarketplace.com?
Your account will still survive on DataMarketplace.com, and you will soon receive an email with details on how to login at Infochimps.com. It’s important for us to maintain the DataMarketplace.com community, and we will notify you of any changes to your account in as few emails as possible.
What will happen to the Data Requests on DataMarketplace.com?
We will continue to support the data requests feature on DataMarketplace.com, and we do not plan to remove or change any of the requests that are on the site at present. We will notify requesters of changes to their requests or their account.