Cleveland AI startup Pandata to be acquired by Atlanta’s Further
Image: Pandata’s Cal Al-Dhubaib with Further’s Mike Gustafson (CEO) and Jason Tabeling (Head of Solutions)
Cleveland’s Pandata, a fully bootstrapped startup that helps organizations design and build machine learning and AI solutions, is being acquired by Atlanta-based Further, a data, cloud, and AI company focused on helping make sense of raw data.
Pandata specializes in helping organizations in high-risk environments, including healthcare, financial services, energy, and defense. Further is a privacy-first consulting practice that has worked with many of the world’s leading brands including GameStop, Red Hat, Novartis, and Robert Half.
Pandata CEO Cal Al-Dhubaib, who founded the company eight years ago, says the combination is a natural fit, from the mission-critical environments and areas of overlap to the company cultures that place a premium on trust, responsibility, and privacy. Al-Dhubaib and Further President Mike Gustafson, alumni of Case Western Reserve University, first met last year. To make this story even more full circle, Al-Dhubaib was Case Western Reserve University's first Data Science graduate in 2016.
“Actually, I was shocked at the amount of industry alignment when I started to work with Mike on the details,” Al-Dhubaib recalls. “I was like, wow, you weren't kidding, this really is perfect.”
Pandata’s team of six joins Further.
“And as I got to meet other team members, it really felt like a second home,” Al-Dhubaib says. “It just made sense to the point where we started to disclose this to some of our clients about the impending transition. Some of them actually said, ‘Oh, can we do more work with you guys?’ So it's even more exciting to our current clients.”
Pandata’s services have been in high demand with the rise of machine learning and AI in recent years. Organizations in the areas where the technology can add the most value often fail to adopt it due to concerns with risk and privacy.
“One of the cool projects that we're teasing that I'm really excited about here, given Further’s focus on privacy-first and our focus on machine learning and AI, is we’re looking to launch an AI auditing practice,” says Al-Dhubaib. “Which is something that's going to soon be in huge demand, especially with things like the EU AI Act and other regulatory laws being formed.”
What it means to Ohio
As one of Ohio’s highest-profile AI-focused startups, Pandata’s exit represents an early win in the rapidly growing space.
“Pandata was fully bootstrapped, so it's a really cool Ohio success story being founded in Cleveland, having gone the bootstrap route and worked with several Fortune 500 brands in the area as a part of our success story,” Al-Dhubaib says. “So we're really proud about that.” Panda grew to nearly $2 million in revenue this year.
Further, formerly known as Search Discovery, was acquired three years ago by Momentum, a holding company based in Fort Worth, Texas, that has roughly 1,500 employees across five sister companies.
“When the opportunity was presented to be acquired by them and run the AI practice, I immediately fell in love,” says Al-Dhubaib.
Al-Dhubaib, previously named a Crain’s Crain's Notable Tech Executives and Notable Immigrant Leader in Cleveland, says his experience as an immigrant makes the founder's journey even more special.
“I did come from Saudi Arabia to study college here, and I never imagined starting a business, let alone staying and building my career here,” he says. “So that's an equally important part of the story for me.”
