Stanford-StartX Fund has exited business intelligence software provider DataFox in an acquisition of undisclosed size by Oracle.

DataFox, a US-based business intelligence software developer backed by Stanford-StartX Fund, the VC vehicle of Stanford University’s StartX accelerator, has been acquired by cloud software and application producer Oracle for an undisclosed sum. Founded in 2013, DataFox operates a database with details of 2.8 million public and private businesses to which it applies artificial intelligence to formulate real-time predictions and insights for sales and marketing purposes. The company claims it adds 1.2 million new businesses to the directory each year. Its development team is expected to join Oracle following the acquisition, with Oracle proposing to use DataFox’s company information for its cloud software products. DataFox received $5m of debt financing from undisclosed investors in November 2017, after securing an unspecified sum from Slack Fund, enterprise communication platform Slack’s corporate venturing subsidiary, in January the same year. The company had previously raised $5m in a 2015 round co-led by investment bank Goldman Sachs and Green Visor Capital, with participation from Stanford-StartX Fund and GV, the early-stage investment division of technology conglomerate Alphabet. GV had co-led a $1.5m seed round for Datafox in 2013, participating alongside a number of angel investors. – A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.

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