Big data startup Dataminr is close to raising $50 million in new venture capital funding, Fortune has learned from a source familiar with the situation.
The round likely would value the New York-based company at more than $500 million, and would be led by a large crossover investor like Fidelity Investments or Wellington Management.
Founded in 2009, Dataminr analyzes social media data for clients in finance, news and government. A user might get a Dataminr alert about M&A speculation on a particular company, or about political unrest in Thailand.
Dataminr last year struck partnerships with Twitter (TWTR) and news outlets like CNN, the BBC and USA Today to help journalists find breaking news on the social network. Dataminr’s rival, a Boulder-based social data company called Gnip, sold to Twitter in 2014. Another social data startup, Topsy sold to Apple (AAPL) for more than $200 million in 2013. A third, Datasift, has raised $71.7 million in venture backing.
To date, Dataminr has raised $49.6 million in total VC funding, including a $30 million Series C round in 2013. Investors include Box Group, Deep Fork Capital, GSV Capital, Venrock and Institutional Venture Partners. The company declined to comment.
