Startup Diligence
Diligence report Enterprise data analytics, open data lakehouse, federated SQL query and AI-ready data platforms Private unicorn / venture-backed growth-stage enterprise software company

Starburst Data

Starburst Data Startup Diligence Report

Starburst has credible public unicorn-list support and a differentiated Trino-based data-access thesis, but diligence must prove private revenue scale, retention, workload economics and defensibility versus Snowflake, Databricks, Dremio and cloud-native query engines.

Company profile

Starburst Data Startup Diligence Report

Starburst Data appears to be an active private U.S. enterprise-data unicorn based on CB Insights/Wikipedia screening and Starburst’s own 2022 $250M Series D announcement at $3.35B. Public evidence supports product/category, pricing, customer-logo/case-study, partner, technical, security and hiring signals. Core underwriting remains unresolved because financial quality, current valuation, customer concentration, retention, cap table, contracts, security reports, insurance and complete legal/regulatory records are private.

Website
www.starburst.io
Sector
Enterprise data analytics, open data lakehouse, federated SQL query and AI-ready data platforms
Geography
United States / Boston, MA with global enterprise markets
Stage
Private unicorn / venture-backed growth-stage enterprise software company
Known aliases
Starburst, Starburst Data, Inc.
Report version
1.0
Timezone
UTC

Executive summary

Strengths

  • Public sources support Starburst Data's private unicorn valuation anchor of $3.35B.
  • Company materials support active product/platform positioning in Data lakehouse, federated analytics, Trino-based enterprise data platform and AI data access.
  • Public customer or logo evidence exists but requires revenue-quality validation.

Risks

  • Private ARR, retention and cloud-cost unit economics are undisclosed
  • Open-source and hyperscaler competition may pressure monetization
  • Customer-logo evidence does not disclose concentration or renewal health

Gaps

  • Audited financial statements, ARR/bookings, gross margin, cash/debt and working-capital detail
  • Cap table, preferences, option pool, debt and investor rights
  • Top-customer ARR, renewal, churn and concentration
  • CAC, payback, quota attainment and sales-cycle evidence
  • Roadmap, architecture, security and incident history

Recommended next steps

  • Run finance and revenue-quality diligence before relying on headline valuation.
  • Request top-customer contracts/cohorts and independent customer references.
  • Have counsel and security specialists review legal, privacy, security, regulatory and IP artifacts.
  • Benchmark win/loss, pricing and renewal evidence against direct competitors.

Risk register

high high likelihood

R-004: Competition and pricing pressure can compress growth and retention

The company competes with Snowflake, Databricks, Dremio and adjacent incumbents with larger distribution or procurement leverage.

Diligence request: Run win/loss, pricing, discount and renewal benchmarks against direct and suite competitors.

high medium likelihood

R-001: Financial quality, ARR retention and margins are private

Public evidence does not include audited statements, current ARR, gross margin, cash, debt, CAC/payback, NRR or cohort retention.

Diligence request: Request audited financials, KPI pack, cash/debt schedule, revenue bridge, cohort retention and board-approved forecast.

high medium likelihood

R-002: Headline valuation may be stale or unsupported by current market multiples

Latest public valuation anchor is $3.35B from February 2022; public sources do not prove current post-money, liquidation stack or investor preferences.

Diligence request: Request financing documents, cap table, preference stack, option pool, 409A marks and any down-round or secondary transaction evidence.

high medium likelihood

R-003: Customer concentration, renewal health and logo quality are opaque

Public customer logos and case studies do not disclose ARR by account, renewal status, churn, NRR or contract obligations.

Diligence request: Request top-customer ARR by cohort, renewal schedule, churned accounts, contract terms and independent references.

high medium likelihood

R-009: Open-source commoditization and IP defensibility risk

Trino is Apache-licensed and publicly available; Starburst must prove proprietary differentiation, conversion and IP/OSS compliance.

Diligence request: Review proprietary code, connectors, performance IP, OSS contribution/assignment records and customer conversion from OSS to paid.

high medium likelihood

R-010: Security and data-access blast radius

Starburst products connect to many sensitive data sources; misconfiguration, SaaS isolation issues or connector vulnerabilities could create broad data exposure.

Diligence request: Review SOC 2 Type II, ISO scope, pen tests, incident history, architecture, tenant isolation, RBAC/ABAC, audit logs and customer security exceptions.

medium medium likelihood

R-005: Product, technical and security claims need independent validation

Public product materials do not provide architecture review, incident history, uptime, security attestations, model-quality evidence or technical debt analysis.

Diligence request: Request roadmap, architecture review, SOC/security reports, incident history, SDLC controls and product-quality metrics.

medium medium likelihood

R-008: Operational dependencies may create implementation or scalability bottlenecks

Public product depends on Trino and Apache Iceberg ecosystem health, AWS/GCP/Azure cloud costs and marketplaces, Enterprise data-security approvals; operational concentration and vendor terms are not public.

Diligence request: Request vendor dependency map, integration SLAs, supplier/customer implementation data and concentration analysis.

Chapter 01

01Financial Information

Starburst Data's public valuation and funding anchors are visible, but audited financial statements, current ARR, cash/debt, cap table and valuation support are private.

I.A Annual and quarterly financial information for the past three years

not publicly verifiable confidence: low

Public sources do not disclose annual and quarterly financial information for the past three years at diligence depth; private data-room records are required.

Evidence gaps

  • Audited financials, ARR/bookings, cash/debt, cap table, option pool, investor rights and tax records.

Hidden risks

  • R-001 financial quality risk remains until financial data room is reviewed.
  • R-002 valuation/capital-structure risk remains until financing documents are reviewed.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide complete finance data room, cap table, debt schedule and board-approved forecast.
Public revenue, ARR and unit-economic signals
metricpublic signalverification statusprivate data request
Revenue / ARRNo current ARR/revenue disclosed in public sourcesnot_publicly_verifiableAudited financials, ARR bridge and cohort revenue schedules
Gross margin / COGSNo public gross margin or cost-to-serve data foundnot_publicly_verifiableGross margin by product, hosting/support/service costs and accounting policy
CAC, payback and quota productivityNo public sales-efficiency dataset foundnot_publicly_verifiablePipeline, bookings, quota attainment, CAC, payback and marketing attribution

I.B Financial Projections

not publicly verifiable confidence: low

Public sources do not disclose financial projections at diligence depth; private data-room records are required.

Evidence gaps

  • Audited financials, ARR/bookings, cash/debt, cap table, option pool, investor rights and tax records.

Hidden risks

  • R-001 financial quality risk remains until financial data room is reviewed.
  • R-002 valuation/capital-structure risk remains until financing documents are reviewed.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide complete finance data room, cap table, debt schedule and board-approved forecast.
Public valuation trajectory Available public valuation anchors for Starburst Data.

I.C Capital Structure

not publicly verifiable confidence: low

Public sources do not disclose capital structure at diligence depth; private data-room records are required.

Evidence gaps

  • Audited financials, ARR/bookings, cash/debt, cap table, option pool, investor rights and tax records.

Hidden risks

  • R-001 financial quality risk remains until financial data room is reviewed.
  • R-002 valuation/capital-structure risk remains until financing documents are reviewed.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide complete finance data room, cap table, debt schedule and board-approved forecast.
Capital structure and ownership snapshot
stakeholderpublic positiondiligence caveat
Index VenturesPublicly identified investor or financing participantShare class, ownership percentage, preferences and board rights are not public
Coatue ManagementPublicly identified investor or financing participantShare class, ownership percentage, preferences and board rights are not public
Andreessen HorowitzPublicly identified investor or financing participantShare class, ownership percentage, preferences and board rights are not public
AlkeonPublicly identified investor or financing participantShare class, ownership percentage, preferences and board rights are not public
Founders and employeesManagement/founder roles are publicly visible for some executivesFounder/common ownership, option pool and vesting schedules require cap table and stock-plan records

I.D Other financial information

not publicly verifiable confidence: low

Public sources do not disclose other financial information at diligence depth; private data-room records are required.

Evidence gaps

  • Audited financials, ARR/bookings, cash/debt, cap table, option pool, investor rights and tax records.

Hidden risks

  • R-001 financial quality risk remains until financial data room is reviewed.
  • R-002 valuation/capital-structure risk remains until financing documents are reviewed.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide complete finance data room, cap table, debt schedule and board-approved forecast.
Public funding-round history
dateroundlead or participantsamountpost money or valuationsource
2019-11 (referenced)Series AIndex Ventures referenced in company Series B post$22Mnot publicStarburst Series B post
2020-06Series BCoatue joined; Index board context$42Mnot publicStarburst Series B post
2021-01Series CAndreessen Horowitz, Salesforce Ventures, Index, Coatue$100Mnot public in company postStarburst Series C post
2022-02Series DAlkeon, Altimeter, B Capital, a16z, Coatue, Index, Salesforce Ventures$250M$3.35BStarburst Series D post; CB/Wikipedia cross-check
Funding timeline Public financing and valuation timeline for Starburst Data.
Chapter 02

02Products

Starburst Data publicly markets products in Data lakehouse, federated analytics, Trino-based enterprise data platform and AI data access; product economics, roadmap quality and implementation outcomes require validation.

II.A Description of each product

partially verified confidence: medium

Starburst Data publicly describes Starburst Galaxy, Starburst Enterprise, AIDA, Icehouse; private diligence should validate adoption, margins, roadmap and implementation quality.

Evidence gaps

  • Audited financials, ARR/bookings, cash/debt, cap table, option pool, investor rights and tax records.

Hidden risks

  • R-005 product/security claims require independent validation.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide complete finance data room, cap table, debt schedule and board-approved forecast.
Product / SKU matrix
productaudiencekey featurespublic evidenceverification status
Starburst GalaxyCloud analytics teamsFully managed enterprise intelligence platform on AWS, GCP and AzureCompany product navigationverified
Starburst EnterpriseHybrid/on-prem enterprise data teamsSelf-managed platform across private cloud, hybrid and on-prem environmentsCompany product navigationverified
Trino/Icehouse-based analyticsData engineering, BI and AI usersFederated query, Apache Iceberg optimization, workload isolation and governanceCompany homepage/about pagesverified
Pricing and packaging diligence comparison
package or axispublic signalcompetitor or benchmarkdiligence gap
ProStarting at $0.50/creditUsage-priced cloud data servicesRealized consumption, discounts, margin and free-trial conversion
EnterpriseStarting at $0.75/credit; advanced autoscaling, fine-grained access controls, AWS PrivateLink; AIDA separately billedEnterprise lakehouse/data-cloud productsACV, support obligations, security commitments and gross margin
Mission-CriticalStarting at $1.00/credit / contact sales; elite support and uptime guaranteesMission-critical enterprise data platformsSLA credit exposure, support staffing and negotiated terms
Product and dependency architecture Publicly inferred product architecture for Starburst Data.
Chapter 03

03Customer Information

Public customer evidence exists for Starburst Data, but revenue by customer, renewal health, concentration and severed relationships are not public.

III.A Top customers by application

partially verified confidence: medium

Starburst publishes a customer logo wall and states organizations in 60+ countries rely on Starburst; public logos do not disclose revenue weight. Revenue-level customer data and severed-relationship history require company records.

Evidence gaps

  • Audited financials, ARR/bookings, cash/debt, cap table, option pool, investor rights and tax records.

Hidden risks

  • R-003 customer concentration and renewal risk remain opaque.
  • R-008 operating dependencies may affect implementation success.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide complete finance data room, cap table, debt schedule and board-approved forecast.
Publicly known customers and case studies
customersourceuse case or signalverification status
Lockheed MartinStarburst customer page / case study cardStarburst Enterprise intelligent factory; 60% manufacturing sites integrated, 100+TB telemetry, 1000+ connected devicespartially_verified
TalkdeskStarburst customer page / case study cardStarburst Galaxy; 150x query failure reduction, 85% faster P99 query times, 20 tools consolidatedpartially_verified
CheckatradeStarburst customer page / case study card60% faster data processing, 35% employees self-serve insights, 100TB processed dailypartially_verified
Comcast, DoorDash, Optum, ZoomInfo, S&P Global and other logosStarburst customer/logo pagePublic logo proof; active contract and revenue contribution not disclosedpartially_verified

III.B Strategic relationships

partially verified confidence: medium

Starburst publishes a customer logo wall and states organizations in 60+ countries rely on Starburst; public logos do not disclose revenue weight. Revenue-level customer data and severed-relationship history require company records.

Evidence gaps

  • Audited financials, ARR/bookings, cash/debt, cap table, option pool, investor rights and tax records.

Hidden risks

  • R-003 customer concentration and renewal risk remain opaque.
  • R-008 operating dependencies may affect implementation success.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide complete finance data room, cap table, debt schedule and board-approved forecast.
Strategic relationships and operating dependencies
relationship or dependencynaturepublic evidencegap
Index VenturesInvestor / financing participantPublic financing or unicorn-list evidenceInvestor rights, liquidation preferences and board rights not public
Coatue ManagementInvestor / financing participantPublic financing or unicorn-list evidenceInvestor rights, liquidation preferences and board rights not public
Andreessen HorowitzInvestor / financing participantPublic financing or unicorn-list evidenceInvestor rights, liquidation preferences and board rights not public
Trino and Apache Iceberg ecosystem healthOperating dependencyInferred from public product modelConcentration, terms and SLAs require private diligence
AWS/GCP/Azure cloud costs and marketplacesOperating dependencyInferred from public product modelConcentration, terms and SLAs require private diligence
Enterprise data-security approvalsOperating dependencyInferred from public product modelConcentration, terms and SLAs require private diligence
Connector coverage across warehouses and SaaS appsOperating dependencyInferred from public product modelConcentration, terms and SLAs require private diligence

III.C Revenue by customer

not publicly verifiable confidence: low

Starburst publishes a customer logo wall and states organizations in 60+ countries rely on Starburst; public logos do not disclose revenue weight. Revenue-level customer data and severed-relationship history require company records.

Evidence gaps

  • Audited financials, ARR/bookings, cash/debt, cap table, option pool, investor rights and tax records.

Hidden risks

  • R-003 customer concentration and renewal risk remain opaque.
  • R-008 operating dependencies may affect implementation success.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide complete finance data room, cap table, debt schedule and board-approved forecast.
Revenue by customer and concentration request
customer grouppublic signalrevenue weightverification statusrequest
Top 10 customersNot disclosednot_publicly_verifiableTop-customer ARR, gross margin, contract term, renewal date and payment history
Named public customers/logosComcast, HSBC, Halliburton, Volkswagen, DoorDashpartially_verifiedSigned customer references and logo-use permissions
Churned or severed relationshipsNo comprehensive public churn list foundnot_publicly_verifiableLost customer list, churn reasons and downgrade analysis
Customer concentration disclosure map Public customer signals versus missing revenue concentration for Starburst Data.

III.D Significant relationships severed within the last two years

not publicly verifiable confidence: low

Starburst publishes a customer logo wall and states organizations in 60+ countries rely on Starburst; public logos do not disclose revenue weight. Revenue-level customer data and severed-relationship history require company records.

Evidence gaps

  • Audited financials, ARR/bookings, cash/debt, cap table, option pool, investor rights and tax records.

Hidden risks

  • R-003 customer concentration and renewal risk remain opaque.
  • R-008 operating dependencies may affect implementation success.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide complete finance data room, cap table, debt schedule and board-approved forecast.

III.E Top suppliers

not publicly verifiable confidence: low

Starburst publishes a customer logo wall and states organizations in 60+ countries rely on Starburst; public logos do not disclose revenue weight. Revenue-level customer data and severed-relationship history require company records.

Evidence gaps

  • Audited financials, ARR/bookings, cash/debt, cap table, option pool, investor rights and tax records.

Hidden risks

  • R-003 customer concentration and renewal risk remain opaque.
  • R-008 operating dependencies may affect implementation success.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide complete finance data room, cap table, debt schedule and board-approved forecast.
Chapter 04

04Competition

Starburst Data competes in a crowded category with direct specialists and larger adjacent platforms; public evidence is insufficient for win/loss or pricing-power conclusions.

IV.A Competitive landscape by market segment

partially verified confidence: medium

Public evidence supports a competitive screen against Snowflake, Databricks, Dremio, but buyer win/loss data is private.

Evidence gaps

  • Audited financials, ARR/bookings, cash/debt, cap table, option pool, investor rights and tax records.

Hidden risks

  • R-004 competitive pressure could affect pricing, growth and retention.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide complete finance data room, cap table, debt schedule and board-approved forecast.
Competitor comparison matrix
competitorsegmentfunding or scale signalproduct overlapdifferentiator
SnowflakeCloud data platform / warehouseRequires current market benchmarkingCloud data platform / warehouseCentralized platform with large enterprise installed base
DatabricksLakehouse, AI and data engineering platformRequires current market benchmarkingLakehouse, AI and data engineering platformBroad analytics/AI platform and strong ecosystem
DremioApache Arrow/Iceberg lakehouse analyticsRequires current market benchmarkingApache Arrow/Iceberg lakehouse analyticsDirect open-lakehouse query competitor
Cloud-native query enginesAWS Athena, BigQuery, Redshift Spectrum and othersRequires current market benchmarkingAWS Athena, BigQuery, Redshift Spectrum and othersHyperscaler bundling and procurement pressure
Basis-of-competition scoring
axistarget positiontop competitor positionevidence or gap
Product specializationFocused category-specific platformSuite vendors may bundle adjacent workflowsNeed win/loss and buyer interviews
Data/network effectsPublicly claims proprietary data or domain networkCompetitors may have broader datasets or distributionNeed model/data quality and customer outcome benchmarks
Pricing powerEnterprise software packagingIncumbents can discount/bundleNeed discount waterfall and renewal uplift
Security/compliancePublic security/compliance posture signalsLarge competitors may have deeper assurance packagesNeed SOC, DPA, pen-test and regulatory evidence
Competitive market map Competitive positioning map for Starburst Data.
Chapter 05

05Marketing, Sales, and Distribution

Public channels show enterprise/content/customer-story motions, but CAC, sales productivity, pipeline and marketing attribution remain private.

V.A Strategy and implementation

partially verified confidence: medium

Starburst Data uses public enterprise GTM signals including Enterprise direct sales, Open-source Trino community adjacency, Cloud marketplace/free-trial motion; contribution economics are not public.

Evidence gaps

  • Pipeline, CAC, payback, marketing attribution, quota attainment, sales-cycle and partner-sourced revenue data.

Hidden risks

  • R-004 pricing/competition and R-003 customer pipeline risks remain unresolved.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide GTM productivity model, channel attribution, pricing/discount waterfall and pipeline report.
Distribution channels and GTM motions
channelregionpublic evidencegap
Enterprise direct salesGlobal / target enterprise marketsObserved on public website, content or product motionContribution, CAC, conversion and quota productivity not public
Open-source Trino community adjacencyGlobal / target enterprise marketsObserved on public website, content or product motionContribution, CAC, conversion and quota productivity not public
Cloud marketplace/free-trial motionGlobal / target enterprise marketsObserved on public website, content or product motionContribution, CAC, conversion and quota productivity not public
Events and AI/Datanova thought leadershipGlobal / target enterprise marketsObserved on public website, content or product motionContribution, CAC, conversion and quota productivity not public
Public marketing-signal summary
signalpublic evidencestrengthdiligence gap
Customer stories/logosStarburst publishes a customer logo wall and states organizations in 60+ countries rely on Starburst; public logos do not disclose revenue weight.mediumRevenue impact and independent references
Thought leadership / regulatory or technical contentCompany maintains public content, resources or eventsmediumAttribution to pipeline and CAC
Partner/integration ecosystemTrino and Apache Iceberg ecosystem health; AWS/GCP/Azure cloud costs and marketplaces; Enterprise data-security approvals; Connector coverage across warehouses and SaaS appslowPartner-sourced pipeline, rev share and integration maintenance cost
GTM channel mix disclosure Public GTM channel signals for Starburst Data.

V.B Major Customers

partially verified confidence: medium

Starburst Data uses public enterprise GTM signals including Enterprise direct sales, Open-source Trino community adjacency, Cloud marketplace/free-trial motion; contribution economics are not public.

Evidence gaps

  • Pipeline, CAC, payback, marketing attribution, quota attainment, sales-cycle and partner-sourced revenue data.

Hidden risks

  • R-004 pricing/competition and R-003 customer pipeline risks remain unresolved.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide GTM productivity model, channel attribution, pricing/discount waterfall and pipeline report.

V.C Principal avenues for generating new business

partially verified confidence: medium

Starburst Data uses public enterprise GTM signals including Enterprise direct sales, Open-source Trino community adjacency, Cloud marketplace/free-trial motion; contribution economics are not public.

Evidence gaps

  • Pipeline, CAC, payback, marketing attribution, quota attainment, sales-cycle and partner-sourced revenue data.

Hidden risks

  • R-004 pricing/competition and R-003 customer pipeline risks remain unresolved.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide GTM productivity model, channel attribution, pricing/discount waterfall and pipeline report.

V.D Sales force productivity model

partially verified confidence: medium

Starburst Data uses public enterprise GTM signals including Enterprise direct sales, Open-source Trino community adjacency, Cloud marketplace/free-trial motion; contribution economics are not public.

Evidence gaps

  • Pipeline, CAC, payback, marketing attribution, quota attainment, sales-cycle and partner-sourced revenue data.

Hidden risks

  • R-004 pricing/competition and R-003 customer pipeline risks remain unresolved.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide GTM productivity model, channel attribution, pricing/discount waterfall and pipeline report.

V.E Ability to implement marketing plan with current and projected budgets

partially verified confidence: medium

Starburst Data uses public enterprise GTM signals including Enterprise direct sales, Open-source Trino community adjacency, Cloud marketplace/free-trial motion; contribution economics are not public.

Evidence gaps

  • Pipeline, CAC, payback, marketing attribution, quota attainment, sales-cycle and partner-sourced revenue data.

Hidden risks

  • R-004 pricing/competition and R-003 customer pipeline risks remain unresolved.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide GTM productivity model, channel attribution, pricing/discount waterfall and pipeline report.
Chapter 06

06Research and Development

Public product and technical-leadership signals support active R&D, but roadmap, budget, technical debt, security and incident history require private diligence.

VI.A Description of R&D organization

partially verified confidence: medium

Starburst Data uses public enterprise GTM signals including Enterprise direct sales, Open-source Trino community adjacency, Cloud marketplace/free-trial motion; contribution economics are not public.

Evidence gaps

  • Pipeline, CAC, payback, marketing attribution, quota attainment, sales-cycle and partner-sourced revenue data.

Hidden risks

  • R-005 technical execution and R-008 dependency risks require specialist review.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide GTM productivity model, channel attribution, pricing/discount waterfall and pipeline report.
Key R&D personnel and technical leadership
namerolebackground or signalsource
Justin BorgmanCo-founder & CEOPublic leadership or technical/product roleCompany leadership/about page
Martin TraversoChief Technology OfficerPublic leadership or technical/product roleCompany leadership/about page
Matt FullerVice President, AI/ML Products; founderPublic leadership or technical/product roleCompany leadership/about page
Megan MaslankaChief People OfficerPublic leadership or technical/product roleCompany leadership/about page
Lisa LuscapChief Marketing OfficerPublic leadership or technical/product roleCompany leadership/about page
Jitender AswaniSVP, EngineeringPublic leadership or technical/product roleCompany leadership/about page
Public R&D and product leadership map Public technical/product organization signals for Starburst Data.

VI.B New Product Pipeline

partially verified confidence: medium

Starburst Data uses public enterprise GTM signals including Enterprise direct sales, Open-source Trino community adjacency, Cloud marketplace/free-trial motion; contribution economics are not public.

Evidence gaps

  • Pipeline, CAC, payback, marketing attribution, quota attainment, sales-cycle and partner-sourced revenue data.

Hidden risks

  • R-005 technical execution and R-008 dependency risks require specialist review.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide GTM productivity model, channel attribution, pricing/discount waterfall and pipeline report.
Public product / research pipeline
project or capabilitystatusexpected datesourceverification status
Starburst GalaxyPublicly marketed capability or packageCompany product/platform pagespartially_verified
Starburst EnterprisePublicly marketed capability or packageCompany product/platform pagespartially_verified
AIDAPublicly marketed capability or packageCompany product/platform pagespartially_verified
IcehousePublicly marketed capability or packageCompany product/platform pagespartially_verified
Trino connectorsPublicly marketed capability or packageCompany product/platform pagespartially_verified
Private roadmap and R&D budgetNot publicDiligence requestnot_publicly_verifiable
Chapter 07

07Management and Personnel

Senior leaders are publicly visible for Starburst Data, while full org chart, headcount, compensation, equity and turnover records are private.

VII.A Organization Chart

partially verified confidence: medium

Starburst Data uses public enterprise GTM signals including Enterprise direct sales, Open-source Trino community adjacency, Cloud marketplace/free-trial motion; contribution economics are not public.

Evidence gaps

  • Pipeline, CAC, payback, marketing attribution, quota attainment, sales-cycle and partner-sourced revenue data.

Hidden risks

  • R-007 team depth, retention and succession risk are private.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide GTM productivity model, channel attribution, pricing/discount waterfall and pipeline report.

VII.B Historical and projected headcount by function and location

partially verified confidence: medium

Starburst Data uses public enterprise GTM signals including Enterprise direct sales, Open-source Trino community adjacency, Cloud marketplace/free-trial motion; contribution economics are not public.

Evidence gaps

  • Pipeline, CAC, payback, marketing attribution, quota attainment, sales-cycle and partner-sourced revenue data.

Hidden risks

  • R-007 team depth, retention and succession risk are private.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide GTM productivity model, channel attribution, pricing/discount waterfall and pipeline report.
Headcount, hiring and turnover signals
function or metricpublic signalsourceverification statusrequest
Engineering8 open roles observed, including Application Security Engineer, Software Engineer - Trino Engine and senior/staff roles in India/WarsawOpen roles pageverifiedConfirm net hiring plan, headcount and attrition
R&D / benchmarking2 benchmarking infrastructure roles observed in Poland/IndiaOpen roles pageverifiedConfirm performance roadmap and R&D budget
GTM, support and services10 roles observed across support, professional services, sales development and enterprise salesOpen roles pageverifiedQuota/ramp/productivity, support load and services margin
Total headcount / turnoverNot publicly disclosed; careers page names major offices in Boston, San Francisco, London, Warsaw and Tel AvivCareers/open roles pagesnot_publicly_verifiableHRIS export, turnover and projected headcount by function/location
Public headcount trend request Headcount data anchors and gaps for Starburst Data.

VII.C Senior management biographies

partially verified confidence: medium

Starburst Data uses public enterprise GTM signals including Enterprise direct sales, Open-source Trino community adjacency, Cloud marketplace/free-trial motion; contribution economics are not public.

Evidence gaps

  • Pipeline, CAC, payback, marketing attribution, quota attainment, sales-cycle and partner-sourced revenue data.

Hidden risks

  • R-007 team depth, retention and succession risk are private.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide GTM productivity model, channel attribution, pricing/discount waterfall and pipeline report.
Senior management roster
nameroletenure or public contextsource
Justin BorgmanCo-founder & CEOTenure/compensation requires HRIS and employment agreements unless public bio states otherwiseCompany leadership/about page
Martin TraversoChief Technology OfficerTenure/compensation requires HRIS and employment agreements unless public bio states otherwiseCompany leadership/about page
Matt FullerVice President, AI/ML Products; founderTenure/compensation requires HRIS and employment agreements unless public bio states otherwiseCompany leadership/about page
Megan MaslankaChief People OfficerTenure/compensation requires HRIS and employment agreements unless public bio states otherwiseCompany leadership/about page
Lisa LuscapChief Marketing OfficerTenure/compensation requires HRIS and employment agreements unless public bio states otherwiseCompany leadership/about page
Jitender AswaniSVP, EngineeringTenure/compensation requires HRIS and employment agreements unless public bio states otherwiseCompany leadership/about page

VII.D Compensation arrangements

not publicly verifiable confidence: low

Starburst Data uses public enterprise GTM signals including Enterprise direct sales, Open-source Trino community adjacency, Cloud marketplace/free-trial motion; contribution economics are not public.

Evidence gaps

  • Pipeline, CAC, payback, marketing attribution, quota attainment, sales-cycle and partner-sourced revenue data.

Hidden risks

  • R-007 team depth, retention and succession risk are private.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide GTM productivity model, channel attribution, pricing/discount waterfall and pipeline report.

VII.E Incentive stock plans

not publicly verifiable confidence: low

Starburst Data uses public enterprise GTM signals including Enterprise direct sales, Open-source Trino community adjacency, Cloud marketplace/free-trial motion; contribution economics are not public.

Evidence gaps

  • Pipeline, CAC, payback, marketing attribution, quota attainment, sales-cycle and partner-sourced revenue data.

Hidden risks

  • R-007 team depth, retention and succession risk are private.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide GTM productivity model, channel attribution, pricing/discount waterfall and pipeline report.

VII.F Significant employee relations problems, past or present

partially verified confidence: medium

Starburst Data uses public enterprise GTM signals including Enterprise direct sales, Open-source Trino community adjacency, Cloud marketplace/free-trial motion; contribution economics are not public.

Evidence gaps

  • Pipeline, CAC, payback, marketing attribution, quota attainment, sales-cycle and partner-sourced revenue data.

Hidden risks

  • R-007 team depth, retention and succession risk are private.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide GTM productivity model, channel attribution, pricing/discount waterfall and pipeline report.

VII.G Personnel Turnover

not publicly verifiable confidence: low

Starburst Data uses public enterprise GTM signals including Enterprise direct sales, Open-source Trino community adjacency, Cloud marketplace/free-trial motion; contribution economics are not public.

Evidence gaps

  • Pipeline, CAC, payback, marketing attribution, quota attainment, sales-cycle and partner-sourced revenue data.

Hidden risks

  • R-007 team depth, retention and succession risk are private.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide GTM productivity model, channel attribution, pricing/discount waterfall and pipeline report.
Chapter 08

08Legal and Related Matters

Public legal, regulatory, insurance, material-contract and IP evidence is incomplete; counsel-led diligence is required.

VIII.A Pending lawsuits against the Company

not publicly verifiable confidence: low

Starburst Data uses public enterprise GTM signals including Enterprise direct sales, Open-source Trino community adjacency, Cloud marketplace/free-trial motion; contribution economics are not public.

Evidence gaps

  • Pipeline, CAC, payback, marketing attribution, quota attainment, sales-cycle and partner-sourced revenue data.

Hidden risks

  • R-006 legal/regulatory/IP risk cannot be cleared from public sources.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide GTM productivity model, channel attribution, pricing/discount waterfall and pipeline report.
Lawsuits, material contracts and insurance diligence requests
categorypublic resultverification statusrequired private record
Pending lawsuits against companyLimited CourtListener exact-name opinion search returned no published opinions; not comprehensiveunverifiedCounsel docket search, claims schedule and settlement history
Company-initiated lawsuitCourtListener lists STARBURST DATA, INC. v. HEWITT, M.D.N.C. 2025, filed 2025-03-18, contract/conversion; complaint filed by StarburstverifiedComplaint, answer/motions, counsel assessment, legal budget and settlement posture
Material contractsPublic terms exist, but customer/vendor/cloud/partner contracts are privatenot_publicly_verifiableExecuted contracts, DPAs, SLAs, amendments and side letters
InsuranceNo insurance schedule found publiclynot_publicly_verifiableD&O, E&O/cyber, GL, claims history and broker summaries

VIII.B Pending lawsuits initiated by Company

not publicly verifiable confidence: low

Starburst Data uses public enterprise GTM signals including Enterprise direct sales, Open-source Trino community adjacency, Cloud marketplace/free-trial motion; contribution economics are not public.

Evidence gaps

  • Pipeline, CAC, payback, marketing attribution, quota attainment, sales-cycle and partner-sourced revenue data.

Hidden risks

  • R-006 legal/regulatory/IP risk cannot be cleared from public sources.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide GTM productivity model, channel attribution, pricing/discount waterfall and pipeline report.

VIII.C Environmental and employee safety issues and liabilities

partially verified confidence: medium

Starburst Data uses public enterprise GTM signals including Enterprise direct sales, Open-source Trino community adjacency, Cloud marketplace/free-trial motion; contribution economics are not public.

Evidence gaps

  • Pipeline, CAC, payback, marketing attribution, quota attainment, sales-cycle and partner-sourced revenue data.

Hidden risks

  • R-006 legal/regulatory/IP risk cannot be cleared from public sources.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide GTM productivity model, channel attribution, pricing/discount waterfall and pipeline report.

VIII.D Material patents, copyrights, licenses, and trademarks

partially verified confidence: medium

Starburst Data uses public enterprise GTM signals including Enterprise direct sales, Open-source Trino community adjacency, Cloud marketplace/free-trial motion; contribution economics are not public.

Evidence gaps

  • Pipeline, CAC, payback, marketing attribution, quota attainment, sales-cycle and partner-sourced revenue data.

Hidden risks

  • R-006 legal/regulatory/IP risk cannot be cleared from public sources.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide GTM productivity model, channel attribution, pricing/discount waterfall and pipeline report.
Legal, regulatory and IP summary
matterpublic signalstatussourcediligence request
TrademarksTrademarkElite lists STARBURST GALAXY and STARBURST live; STARBURST DATA deadpartially_verifiedTrademarkElite secondary trademark tableVerify official USPTO/TSDR, assignments, oppositions and renewals
Trino / OSS license and naming historyTrino GitHub says fast distributed SQL engine; Apache 2.0 license; project rebranded from PrestoSQLverifiedTrino GitHub/license/blogReview OSS policy, CLAs, contributor assignments, proprietary boundary and trademark rights
Security / privacyGalaxy security page and trust center list RBAC/ABAC, encryption, masking, SOC 2, ISO 27001:2022, GDPR and CCPApartially_verifiedStarburst security/trust pagesSOC reports, penetration tests, DPAs, subprocessor list and incident history
Privacy / standard termsPrivacy policy and Galaxy terms are public; executed contracts and negotiated terms are privatepartially_verifiedStarburst privacy and terms pagesMaterial contracts, DPAs, SLAs, insurance and regulator notices

VIII.E Insurance coverage and material exposures

not publicly verifiable confidence: low

Insurance coverage, cyber/E&O/D&O policies and claims history are not public; this is a private legal/finance diligence item.

Evidence gaps

  • Insurance certificates, policies, exclusions, claims history and broker summaries.

Hidden risks

  • Non-public contract, insurance, incident or regulatory matters could materially affect enterprise customers and valuation.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide D&O, E&O/cyber, general liability policies and claims history.

VIII.F Material contracts

not publicly verifiable confidence: low

Public privacy policy and Galaxy terms are available, but executed customer, supplier, partner, cloud and employment contracts are private.

Evidence gaps

  • Material contract schedule, customer SLAs, DPAs, cloud/supplier agreements, partner agreements and amendments.

Hidden risks

  • Non-public contract, insurance, incident or regulatory matters could materially affect enterprise customers and valuation.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide material contracts, DPAs, SLAs, cloud/partner agreements and side letters.

VIII.G Regulatory agency problems

not publicly verifiable confidence: low

Security/trust/privacy pages support screening, but regulatory agency history, breach notices, incident history and correspondence are not public.

Evidence gaps

  • Regulatory correspondence, incident register, breach notices, privacy complaints, SOC/ISO reports and subprocessors.

Hidden risks

  • Non-public contract, insurance, incident or regulatory matters could materially affect enterprise customers and valuation.

Follow-up questions

  • Provide regulatory correspondence, breach/incident register, SOC/ISO reports, subprocessors and privacy compliance materials.
Legal, IP and regulatory timeline Public legal/IP events and remaining legal-regulatory diligence gaps for Starburst Data.
Risk heatmap Risk heatmap covering the full Starburst Data risk register.

Evidence

Evidence claims
IDClaimStatusSources
EC-001 Starburst Data is publicly listed as a private unicorn with a roughly $3.3B-$3.35B valuation. verified high SRC-001SRC-002
EC-002 Starburst sells a Trino-based enterprise intelligence and data lakehouse platform for distributed data. verified medium SRC-003SRC-004
EC-003 Starburst publishes broad enterprise customer-logo evidence and claims organizations in 60+ countries rely on it. partially verified medium SRC-003SRC-006
EC-004 Starburst discloses usage-based pricing for Galaxy but not realized economics. partially verified medium SRC-003SRC-005
EC-005 Starburst current public leadership includes Justin Borgman as co-founder and CEO and Martin Traverso as CTO. verified medium SRC-004
EC-006 Starburst differentiation is tied to Trino creators and the open Trino/Iceberg ecosystem. verified medium SRC-003SRC-007
EC-007 Starburst explicitly positions against Snowflake and Databricks in a competitive enterprise data platform market. verified medium SRC-003SRC-004
EC-008 Audited financials, ARR, retention, customer concentration, cloud-cost exposure, cap table and legal materials were not publicly available. not publicly verifiable high SRC-001SRC-002SRC-003
EC-009 Starburst has public trademark notices, but material IP ownership, open-source contribution obligations and patent coverage require counsel review. partially verified medium SRC-003SRC-007
EC-010 Starburst announced a $250M Series D at a $3.35B valuation. verified high SRC-008
EC-011 Starburst announced prior venture financings: $100M Series C, $42M Series B and referenced a $22M Series A. verified medium SRC-009SRC-010
EC-012 Starburst Galaxy and Enterprise are publicly described as managed and self-managed/hybrid data lakehouse products. verified medium SRC-011SRC-012
EC-013 Starburst publishes credit pricing for Galaxy tiers. partially verified medium SRC-005
EC-014 Starburst customer page publishes named customer proof and metrics for Lockheed Martin, Talkdesk and Checkatrade. partially verified medium SRC-006
EC-015 Starburst publishes partner ecosystem evidence across clouds, ISVs and consulting/services partners. verified medium SRC-013
EC-016 Starburst public security pages list RBAC/ABAC, encryption, masking and compliance frameworks. partially verified medium SRC-014SRC-015
EC-017 Trino is an Apache-licensed open-source distributed SQL engine formerly known as PrestoSQL. verified high SRC-017SRC-018SRC-019
EC-018 Starburst shows public hiring activity with 25 open roles across engineering, R&D, GTM, support, services, product and operations. verified medium SRC-024SRC-025
EC-019 A public CourtListener search found one 2025 federal docket initiated by Starburst Data, Inc. verified medium SRC-026SRC-027
EC-020 Secondary trademark data lists STARBURST GALAXY and STARBURST as live marks and STARBURST DATA as dead. partially verified medium SRC-028
Sources
IDPublisherTitleAccessed
SRC-001 Wikipedia Wikipedia - List of unicorn startup companies 2026-05-27
SRC-002 CB Insights CB Insights - The Complete List Of Unicorn Companies 2026-05-27
SRC-003 Starburst Starburst website 2026-05-27
SRC-004 Starburst Starburst about page 2026-05-27
SRC-005 Starburst Starburst pricing page 2026-05-27
SRC-006 Starburst Starburst customers page 2026-05-27
SRC-007 Trino Software Foundation / project community Trino project website 2026-05-27
SRC-008 Starburst Starburst Announces $250M Series D 2026-05-27
SRC-009 Starburst Starburst Announces $100M Series C Led by Andreessen Horowitz 2026-05-27
SRC-010 Starburst Starburst Announces $42 Million Series B 2026-05-27
SRC-011 Starburst Starburst Galaxy 2026-05-27
SRC-012 Starburst Starburst Enterprise 2026-05-27
SRC-013 Starburst Starburst partners 2026-05-27
SRC-014 Starburst Starburst Galaxy Security 2026-05-27
SRC-015 Vanta / Starburst starburstdata.com Trust Center 2026-05-27
SRC-016 Starburst Documentation Security overview — Starburst Enterprise 2026-05-27
SRC-017 GitHub / Trino project GitHub - trinodb/trino 2026-05-27
SRC-018 GitHub / Trino project trino/LICENSE at master 2026-05-27
SRC-019 Trino project We’re rebranding PrestoSQL as Trino 2026-05-27
SRC-020 Databricks Data Lakehouse Architecture 2026-05-27
SRC-021 Snowflake The Snowflake Platform 2026-05-27
SRC-022 Dremio Platform Overview 2026-05-27
SRC-023 Amazon Web Services Interactive SQL - Amazon Athena 2026-05-27
SRC-024 Starburst Open Roles 2026-05-27
SRC-025 Starburst Careers 2026-05-27
SRC-026 CourtListener / Free Law Project CourtListener docket search for "Starburst Data" 2026-05-27
SRC-027 CourtListener / Free Law Project STARBURST DATA, INC. v. HEWITT, 1:25-cv-00209 2026-05-27
SRC-028 TrademarkElite Starburst Data, Inc. Trademarks | USPTO Trademark Owner Search 2026-05-27
SRC-029 Starburst Privacy Policy 2026-05-27
SRC-030 Starburst Galaxy Terms of Service 2026-05-27
SRC-031 Starburst Build your Icehouse with Starburst 2026-05-27
SRC-032 Starburst AI Replaces BI 2026-05-27
SRC-033 User-provided task context Workflow request and public-source diligence scope 2026-05-27

Disclaimer

This report is a public-evidence diligence snapshot, not investment advice. Important financial, legal, technical, and contractual facts remain non-public and should be verified directly with management and primary documents before any investment decision.