Exclusive: Omni raises $120 million to fix one of AI’s biggest enterprise data problems

For years, companies have poured money into data warehouses, dashboards, and business intelligence tools, only to discover the real problem wasn’t storage or visualization—it was translation.

That disconnect is exactly what Omni was built to bridge, and investors are now betting big that the company has the formula. The company just raised a $120 million Series C led by Iconiq—valuing the startup at $1.51 billion—Fortune learned exclusively. The round comes four years after the company was founded.

Omni builds what’s known as a semantic layer: The governed translation layer that sits between a company’s raw data and whatever or whoever is querying it. Think of it as a living rulebook that defines what revenue means, who can see which numbers, and how key metrics should be calculated. Omni’s customers include BambooHR, Guitar Center, Checkr, Mercury, Pendo, and Heidi AI. BambooHR alone uses Omni to serve more than 100,000 users.

The company’s three co-founders—Colin Zima, Jamie Davidson, and Chris Merrick (all Princeton grads)—reconnected after Google acquired Zima and Davidson’s former employer, Looker, for $2.6 billion in 2020. Zima, who is Omni’s CEO, served as Looker’s chief analytics officer and vice president of product.

Omni isn’t without competition. OpenAI launched Frontier in February, positioning it explicitly as “a semantic layer for the enterprise that all AI coworkers can reference.” Snowflake and Databricks all have their own semantic layer offerings baked into stacks enterprises are already paying for. Omni’s answer to the bundling threat is architectural: legacy players would have to rearchitect their entire products to match what Omni has built from the ground up—a dynamic Iconiq partner, Matt Jacobson, compares to Snowflake’s early advantage over Amazon’s Redshift.

Zima sees the current moment as a genuine inflection point. “It was a latent demand that had always been there,” he told Fortune. “The tools just weren’t ready.” They appear to be now. Omni’s ARR grew nearly fourfold over the past year, and the company hit profitability for the first time last month. It employs roughly 200 people across San Francisco, Dublin, and Sydney.

For Zima, the AI wave is Omni’s tailwind. “AI is an actual advantage for us rather than something ripping the industry apart,” he told Fortune, explaining that as more enterprises deploy AI agents on their data, the more they need a governed semantic layer underneath those agents.

Iconiq’s Jacobson draws a pointed comparison to past platform shifts: “That market opportunity is just enormous. It’s much bigger than business intelligence as we imagined it beforehand,” he said. The BI software market is valued at roughly $47 billion in 2025, with the semantic layer sub-segment projected to grow at 30% annually through 2031, according to Futurum Group.

The pace of enterprise adoption has also shifted: “We’re measuring this in days and weeks now—not months, quarters, or years,” Jacobson told Fortune.

See you tomorrow,

Lily Mae LazarusX: @LilyMaeLazarusEmail: [email protected] a deal for the Term Sheet newsletter here.

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VENTURE CAPITAL

– VAST Data, a New York City-based AI operating system company, raised $1 billion in Series F funding. Drive Capital and Access Industries led the round and were joined by existing investors including Fidelity Management & Research Company, NEA, NVIDIA, and others.

– Tortugas Neuroscience, a Framingham, Mass.-based neurology-focused drug discovery company, raised $106 million across seed and Series A rounds. Cure Ventures led the seed round and led the Series A round alongside The Column Group and AN Venture Partners.

– Courier Health, a New York City-based patient experience platform for life sciences companies, raised $50 million in Series B funding. Oak HC/FT led the round and was joined by existing investors.

– Sooth Labs, a Pittsburgh, Pa.-based AI lab designed to build models that can forecast real-world and market events, raised $50 million in seed funding. Felicis Ventures led the round and was joined by angel investors.

– NeoCognition, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based developer of AI agents designed to be self-learning, raised $40 million in seed funding. Cambium Capital and Walden Catalyst Ventures led the round and were joined by Vista Equity Partners and others.

– Zocalo Health, a Kenmore, Wash.-based primary care provider designed for high-need populations, raised $15 million in Series A funding. EO Ventures led the round and was joined by Talipot and existing investors.

– BetHog, a New York City-based crypto casino and sportsbook, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Will Ventures and RockawayX led the round and were joined by PCV, 6MV, Bullpen Capital, and Advancit Capital.

– 10x Science, a San Francisco-based developer of AI for molecular-level protein characterization, raised $4.8 million in seed funding. Initialized Capital led the round and was joined by Y Combinator, Civilization Ventures, Founder Factor, and angel investors.

PRIVATE EQUITY

– KKR invested $1.5 billion in Vertical Bridge REIT, a Delray Beach, Fla.-based communications infrastructure owner and operator.

– Behrman Capital acquired Metallizing Service Company, a West Hartford, Conn.-based provider of thermal spray coatings and finishing services for military and commercial aerospace uses. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Brightstar Capital Partners acquired Bendon Publishing International, an Ashland, Ohio-based designer and distributor of licensed children’s coloring, activity, and educational products. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– First Eagle Investments acquired Diamond Hill Investment Group, a Columbus, Ohio-based investment management firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– GTCR acquired Fiduciary Trust Company, a Boston, Mass.-based private wealth manager and trust company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– SK Capital Partners acquired Brothers International Food Holdings, a Rochester, N.Y.-based provider of natural fruit ingredients and products, from Benford Capital Partners. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– SkySparc, a portfolio company of Bregal Milestone, acquired Covarius, a London, U.K.-based technology consultancy, and Uniun, a London, U.K.-based intelligent integration and data platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Tencarva Machinery Company, backed by Bessemer Investors, acquired WWaterTech Services, a Waller, Texas-based water and wastewater equipment company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Ticketure, backed by Dahlia Equity Partners, acquired Patron Manager, a Pittsburgh, Pa.-based provider of CRM and ticketing software to cultural institutions, from Leap Event Technology, a portfolio company of Vector Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– TickPick, backed by Brighton Park Capital, acquired Momento, a New York City-based mobile app designed to help fans capture, share and relive their live event experiences. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Veristate, backed by WindRose Health Investors, agreed to acquire the Regulatory and Medical Writing business of Certara, a Radnor, Pa.-based drug discovery solutions company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

EXITS

– Stonepeak acquired Southern Marinas, a Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.-based owner and operator of marinas, from KSL Capital Partners. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– THL Partners agreed to acquire Celerion Holdings, a Lincoln, Neb.-based clinical pharmacology and bioanalytical sciences company, from H.I.G. Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– UnitedHealth Group agreed to acquire Alegeus, a Boston, Mass.-based benefits administration platform, from Vista Equity Partners. Financial terms were not disclosed.

IPOs

– National Healthcare Properties, a New York City-based real estate investment trust, raised $462 million in an offering of 38.5 million shares priced at $12 on the Nasdaq.

– Yesway, a Fort Worth, Texas-based convenience store chain, raised $280 million in an offering of 14 million shares priced at $20 on the Nasdaq.