OREANDA-NEWS. March 31, 2016. GPU startup MapD is on a roll.

The big data analytics company, which won our first \\$100,000 Early Stage Challenge in 2014, today unveiled its visual analytics software that uses GPUs to crunch large datasets at lightning speeds.

The MapD database uses GPUs to process SQL queries in parallel across nearly 40,000 cores per server, yielding massive speedups over leading in-memory databases. When paired with the MapD Immerse analytics front end, the system delivers instant visual insights into datasets with billions of records.

In addition to the general availability of its products, MapD announced that it has closed \\$10M in Series A funding from an investment group including NVIDIA, Vanedge Capital, Verizon Ventures, and Google Ventures.

MapD’s products are well suited for a range of big data use cases, including log analytics, GIS, business intelligence, and social media analytics.  Early adopters have included Fortune 500 companies in the telecom, retail, finance, and adtech sectors.

Verizon is already a customer.

“Verizon Ventures chose to invest in MapD after seeing the performance and value which the product brought to our network infrastructure group. MapD has taken GPUs and turned them into a solution that can transform the analytics industry,” said Mark Smith, Executive Director at Verizon Ventures.

MapD founder Todd Mostak says that winning NVIDIA’s Early Stage Challenge was a turning point for his company. “Winning that prize put us on the map—it gave us the credibility and awareness to attract major customers,” he says. “Today we’re a real company, with a real product, and significant backing from some of the top names in technology.”

Twelve promising startups are set to compete at NVIDIA’s 3rd Early Stage Challenge on April 6 in Silicon Valley. As a successful alum, Mostak will answer questions onstage toward the end of the session, while winning votes are being tabulated. To register, please go here.