Milestone
First Anniversary Celebration
Ara Platforms celebrates its first anniversary, serving a growing community of data professionals across the country.
Our Founder
The Mind Behind Ara
Combining deep expertise in AI and product development to solve the analytics chaos problem.
Mari Soonsoo Bae
Co-Founder & CEO
Former Google Program Manager (2020-2023), where she led system integration and customer growth analysis projects that saved millions in operational costs. MBA from University of Washington with deep expertise in business strategy.
Mari brings unique perspective from both Google and Microsoft, understanding how enterprise teams struggle to preserve analytical insights.
Our Story
Why We Built Ara
After years in big tech, we saw the same problem everywhere: brilliant analyses getting lost, teams recreating work, and knowledge failing to compound.
Mari founded Ara to help teams turn scattered analyses into lasting knowledge. After seeing how insights get lost across tools, she set out to make analytics work searchable, reusable, and collaborative.
Our Journey
Building the Future of Analytics Collaboration
From an idea born out of frustration to a platform trusted by thousands of teams worldwide.
Launch
Beta Version Launch
Ara Platforms launches its beta version, receiving positive feedback from early adopters eager to transform how they manage data stories.
Funding
First Grant Funding - $50K from VIPC
The company secures its first grant funding of $50,000 from Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC), validating our vision and providing crucial early capital.
Founded
Ara Platforms Founded
Ara Platforms is officially founded in Richmond, VA, with a mission to create a knowledge hub for data professionals.
Our Values
What Drives Us
The principles that guide every decision we make at Ara.
Knowledge Should Compound
Every analysis should make the next one easier. We're building a world where teams stand on the shoulders of their previous work, not start from scratch.
Transparency Builds Trust
We believe in radical transparency - with our customers, our team, and our community. Our roadmap is public, our metrics are shared, and our mistakes are learning opportunities.
Time is Precious
We're obsessed with saving our customers time. Every feature we build must demonstrably reduce duplicate work and accelerate insights.
Simplicity Scales
Complex problems don't require complex solutions. We strive for elegant simplicity that works for teams of 5 or 500.
Join Us in Eliminating Analytics Chaos
We're always looking for talented people who share our vision of a world where analytics teams can focus on discoveries, not duplicates. Interested in joining our team? Reach out to hello@araplatforms.com to explore opportunities.