German data mining software provider Celonis valued at $2.5 bln after funding round

BERLIN (Reuters) - German data mining software firm Celonis said on Thursday that it had raised $290 mln in a Series C funding round, putting a $2.5 billion (£1.9 billion) valuation on the company that has been compared with enterprise application giant SAP <SAPG.DE>.

The funding round was led by Arena Holdings and investors included Ryan Smith, the founder of customer experience specialist Qualtrics that was bought by SAP for $8 billion a year ago.

Celonis, based in Munich and New York, runs a cloud-based service that uses artificial intelligence to mine data and optimise business processes, serving customers including Siemens <SIEGn.DE>, 3M <MMM.N>, Airbus <AIR.PA> and Vodafone <VOD.L>.

"We are in a market that shows enormous momentum," co-CEO and co-founder Bastian Nominacher told Reuters, adding that Celonis would invest the funds raised in its global sales and customer service and in enhancing its cloud platform.

The funding round brings total investments into Celonis to $370 million.

“Celonis is the clear market leader in a category with open-ended potential. It has demonstrated an enviable record of growth and value creation for its customers and partners,” said Feroz Dewan, CEO of Arena Holdings.

The company, founded in 2011, does not publish financial results but says it has been cash-flow positive every year since and is growing at a triple-digit pace.

(Reporting by Douglas Busvine; editing by Thomas Seythal and Susan Fenton)