Singapore based company, creators of the next generation of Choice Engines, gets support and validation from Japanese conglomerate.
Singapore/Chennai – Feb 24, 2016 – Mitsui & Co., Ltd. has made an investment of an undisclosed amount, in Crayon Data, one of Asia’s fastest growing big data companies. This announcement comes hot on the heels of Ratan Tata’s investment into Crayon Data last year.
This partnership marks the beginning of Crayon’s journey into a new market. The funds from Mitsui, will help Crayon acceralate global expansion and  continue its quest for sharper customer insights. The investment includes a business service agreement, by which Mitsui will support the launch of Crayon’s products in Japan, and the expansion of its customer assets.
Mitsui will also look to add benefits, to their own subsidiaries and investee companies in retail, CRM and digital advertising.
Mr. Noda, General Manager of IT Service Div, IT & Communication Business Unit of Mitsui & Co., Ltd.  said “We believe that personalization, which Crayon Data brings through big data analysis of consumer behavior is going to be key for every  business related to consumer interactions, across every industry and every geography.”
Crayon hopes to soon map the tastes of Japan. Focus industries include banks, hotels, and advertising & media.
Suresh Shankar, founder of Crayon Data, said, “We are incredibly excited and deeply honoured. Mitsui is not just bringing in funds, but also a deep faith in our vision – to build a personalized choice marketplace, where consumers, enterprises, and merchants can all experience the magic of choice. We look forward to our foray into the Japanese market this year.”
Crayon, a portfolio company of Jungle Ventures, has been accredited as one of the most successful and innovative big data start-ups in 2014 and 2015, by global platforms such as TiEcon, CEBIT, IBM Watson, Intech50 and OrangeFab.
Crayon has previously raised approximately S$ 10 million in seed and Series A funding from angel institutional investors like Jungle Ventures and Spring Seeds.
Crayon’s unique proposition has resulted in multiple clients across international markets, in the past year alone. 
About Mitsui & Co., Ltd.:
Mitsui & Co., Ltd. is one of the most diversified and comprehensive trading, investment and service enterprises in the world, with 141 offices in 66 countries as of March, 2015. Utilizing its global operating locations, network and information resources, Mitsui is multilaterally pursuing business that ranges from product sales, worldwide logistics and financing, through to the development of major international infrastructure and other projects in the following fields: Iron & Steel Products, Mineral & Metal Resources, Infrastructure Projects, Integrated Transportation Systems, Chemicals, Energy, Food Resources, Food Products & Services, Consumer Services, IT & Communication, Corporate Development Business.. Mitsui is actively taking on challenges for global business innovation around the world. 
About Crayon Data:
Based in Singapore, Crayon Data is a big data start-up, with an ambitious vision to ‘simplify the world’s choices’.  Crayon’s flagship product maya.ai is a personalization engine that facilitates choice delivery for the banking, hotel and digital media verticals. maya.ai is built on Crayon Data’s proprietary platform, SimplerChoices^TM, which empowers enterprises with the ability to deliver ultra-personalized choices to their consumers. It does this by creating a consumer taste fabric, using over 14 recommender systems and proprietary cognitive thinking TasteGraph^TM algorithms, to work on vast internal and external data sets.
Crayon has won several awards. The TiE Silicon Valley’s “2014 Global Hot Technology Start-up Watch List”; was a finalist in IBM’s Watson Mobile Developer Challenge in 2014, at CeBIT CODEn in 2014 and at OrangeFab in 2015. For more visit crayondata.ai, follow us on Twitter @crayonbigdata, facebook.com/crayon-data and LinkedIn.com/company/crayon-data.
Crayon’s founder, Suresh Shankar with his team: Vikram Rao, Amev Narang and Prarthana Jairath; with Mitsui’s  Hideki Noda(GM of IT Service Div, Mitsui & Co., Ltd.), Makoto Serino(SVP & Divisional Operating Officer of Innovative & Corporate　Development Division, Asia Pacific Business Unit, Mitsui & Co., Ltd.)  and Daisuke Harada (Deputy GM of  Information & Electronics Department, Mitsui & Co. (Asia Pacific) Pte. Ltd.)