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From Tableau and Looker, to PowerBI and beyond, there are no shortage of business intelligence (BI) tools designed to help companies unlock insights from their vast swathes of data. But a newcomer has arrived on the scene with some fresh BI smarts in tow, aimed at more \u201ctechnically-inclined\u201d data teams.<\/p>\n
Founded out of Toronto, Canada, in 2021, Evidence<\/a> emerged from Y Combinator\u2019s (YC) summer \u201921 cohort of startups<\/a>\u00a0with the promise of a modern alternative to popular BI incumbents. Indeed, while many BI tools share key characteristics, they often vary in terms of\u00a0who<\/em> they\u2019re targeting: some offer more code-based workflows for data ingestion such as Google\u2019s Looker<\/a>, others offer a drag-and-drop based interface which are aimed at less technical data analysts, and others offer a mix of both.<\/p>\n On top of that, BI software comes in a variety of proprietary and open source flavors, factors that can influence which tools a company want to deploy.<\/p>\n Evidence, for its part, approaches things very much from a code-based standpoint, enabling teams to build data products using SQL and markdown. Moreover, it\u2019s entirely open source<\/a>, to boot.<\/p>\n Looking to expand its commercial footprint, Evidence today announced it has raised a tranche of seed funding and is opening up its premium cloud product<\/a>\u00a0for businesses that lack the resources to deploy and self-host Evidence.<\/p>\n Drag-and-drop BI workflows have their place, insofar as they allow data teams to more easily manage and manipulate their data. But this can lack the sophistication and granularity afforded by more manual approaches.<\/p>\n \u201cThis drag-and-drop report building process is fine for a lot of data teams, but it is very painful for more technically-inclined data teams,\u201d Evidence co-founder and COO Sean Hughes told TechCrunch. \u201cIt results in data products that are extremely difficult for end-users to use, and for data teams to maintain.\u201d<\/p>\n Within Evidence, each step \u2014 from data-sourcing to defining reports \u2014 is carried out using code. According to Hughes, this is preferential to a lot of modern data teams who prefer to operate more like software engineers. For example, this supports version control and governance \u2014 users can manage their entire workflow and team collaboration using Git, and they can create a complete and accurate history of the project. This also means that they can revisit older versions of a product, and cut\/copy\/paste and repurpose old code.<\/p>\n \u201cMost BI tools are littered with old, broken, and irrelevant reports because it\u2019s extremely time consuming to build something, then move pieces of it elsewhere,\u201d Hughes explained. \u201cAs a result, you don\u2019t want to throw things away. That\u2019s not the case with Evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n Moreover, a code-based approach also supports teams with their broader continuous integration and deployment (CI\/CD) endeavors.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can work on a development version of your project while making changes, run tests on those changes, and release the updates to production with a pull request,\u201d Hughes explained.<\/p>\n Evidence-flavored markdown in user\u2019s ID, with live preview on right Image credits<\/strong>: Evidence<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In some ways, Evidence might seem like a counter or \u201cpushback\u201d against the broader no-code\/low-code movement<\/a>, but Hughes reckons his company serves more as an \u201cextension\u201d to a separate movement that has been gathering steam in the analytics space.<\/p>\n \u201cData teams increasingly want to work like software engineers and have begun adopting code-driven \u2014 and open source \u2014 products in their data stack,\u201d Hughes said.<\/p>\n One analogy that Hughes used to underscore this point is that of Squarespace, the billion-dollar<\/a> behemoth that helps just about anyone build their own website. Sure, it serves a purpose for millions of people, but it\u2019s not for every scenario.<\/p>\n \u201cNo-code\/low-code reporting tools work well for a lot of people, but they are much too limited for more technical data teams,\u201d Hughes said. \u201cIt would be like giving Squarespace to a front-end web development team. Squarespace works great for a segment of users who need to set up a simple website, but a professional developer will want and need to do much more. We\u2019re focused on building something amazing for the technically-inclined data teams who need to go beyond what\u2019s possible in a no-code\/low-code tool.\u201d<\/p>\n Open source is also a major selling point over industry heavyweights such as Looker or Tableau, with the likes of Lightdash<\/a>, Metabase<\/a>, and Apache Superset<\/a> (which has a VC-backed commercial entity too<\/a>) vying for data teams\u2019 affections. Most of these tools, according to Hughes, look much the same as Tableau or Looker, except they can be self-hosted. This is a huge benefit in its own right, of course, as companies can retain full control of their data, but its this open source approach combined<\/em> with a code-based workflow that Evidence hopes will ingratiate itself to businesses the world over.<\/p>\n After an extended period in early-access mode, Evidence is also now extending access to its cloud service to a wider audience as part of a new invite-based program, backed by $2.1 million in seed funding from A Capital, Y Combinator, SV Angel, and a host of angel investors.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone on our current waitlist will be given access to Evidence Cloud,\u201d Hughes said. \u201cWe are moving from a waitlist to invite-only, where anyone with an invite will get access. Invites can be received from current Evidence Cloud customers, or directly from an Evidence team member.\u201d<\/p>\n The cloud plan includes a free starter tier that includes up to 5 \u201cviewer\u201d (i.e. end-users) accounts, alongside a team plan costing $500 per month that includes up to 50 viewer accounts. Additional enterprise-grade requirements, such as single sign-on (SSO) and more viewer accounts, can also be supported as part of a customizable plan.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nDropping the drag-and-drop<\/h2>\n