Grafiti is a technology company.
Grafiti has raised $2.0M across 2 funding rounds.
Grafiti has raised $2.0M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Grafiti has raised $2.0M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Grafiti's investors include Alumni Ventures, Canaan Partners, Cota Capital, Matt Ocko, Modern Venture Partners, NightDragon, Parkway VC, Spark Capital, Catherine Lu, Thomas Tull.
Grafiti is a New York City-based technology company founded in 2018 that builds a machine learning and computer vision-powered search engine specifically for graphs and charts, aiming to make every graph searchable and shareable.[1][4] It serves knowledge workers, researchers, and potentially educators by addressing the challenge of discovering and accessing visual data representations that are otherwise difficult to search in traditional text-based engines, with a beta available at beta.grafiti.io.[1] A related entity, Grafiti LLC, offers a cloud-delivered graphing and data visualization platform targeted at students and educators, enabling intuitive data import, real-time collaboration, analysis, and graphical modeling without installations, which boosts academic performance through interactive tools.[3]
The company has shown early traction via participation in Techstars and funding from investors like Matter Ventures, with a small team of about 5 employees focused on IT services, analytics, and data visualization.[1][2]
Grafiti was founded in 2018 in New York City by co-founders Akbar Dawood and Farhan Mustafa, both Duke University alumni.[1] Dawood, a former quant and investor with a background in economics, markets, and management, started with a mission to democratize data and now leads as CFO and COO (also at Keeper.fyi).[1] Mustafa, with experience as an economist and data journalist at Al Jazeera English (economics & political science background), serves as CEO for both Grafiti and Keeper.fyi.[1] The idea emerged from their shared drive to revolutionize search for visual data like graphs, using ML and computer vision—the pivotal moment being the launch of their beta search engine.[1][4]
Early traction included Techstars involvement and seed funding from Dawood, Mustafa, Matter Nine, and Matter Ventures, building a lean team that added UX designer Juan Castrence.[1]
Grafiti rides the wave of visual data explosion in an AI-driven era, where charts and graphs proliferate in reports, publications, and dashboards but remain unsearchable amid growing data volumes from IoT, research, and business analytics.[1][3] Timing aligns with advances in computer vision (e.g., post-2018 ML breakthroughs) and demand for democratized data access, fueled by remote learning and knowledge work post-pandemic.[1] Market forces like edtech growth and no-code visualization tools favor its cloud model, while it influences the ecosystem by enabling faster insights for researchers (echoing testimonials on similar tools like SigmaPlot) and fostering collaborative data literacy in education.[3][5]
Grafiti is poised to expand its graph search engine into a full visual data platform, potentially integrating deeper AI for auto-generated insights and broader enterprise adoption amid rising needs for searchable visuals in big data workflows.[1][3] Trends like multimodal AI search and edtech personalization will shape its path, with opportunities in academic partnerships and API expansions. Its influence could grow by setting standards for niche search, tying back to the core mission of making graphs as accessible as text—unlocking hidden knowledge for innovators worldwide.[1][4]
Grafiti has raised $2.0M across 2 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $2.0M Seed in December 2019.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 1, 2019 | $2.0M Seed | Alumni Ventures, Canaan Partners, Cota Capital, Matt Ocko, Modern Venture Partners, NightDragon, Parkway VC, Spark Capital, Catherine Lu, Thomas Tull | |
| Jan 1, 2019 | $25K Venture Round | Alumni Ventures, Canaan Partners, Cota Capital, Matt Ocko, Modern Venture Partners, NightDragon, Parkway VC, Spark Capital, Catherine Lu, Thomas Tull |