Shark Tank’s Robert Herjavec joins Melbourne data lakehouse scaleup Zetaris and also invests in it

US Shark Tank investor and cybersecurity startup founder Robert Herjavec is joining Melbourne scaleup Zetaris as executive director of global strategy.

He was so impressed, he’s also invested in the company, although that figure was not disclosed. Herjavec believes Zetaris has unicorn (worth more than $1bn) potential.

Zetaris was founded in 2013 by Vinay Samuel and Michael Cimino as a data management platform that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help businesses make decisions.

It has offices in San Francisco, Sydney and Melbourne and plans to expand in more locations across the US, ramping up its headcount this year, as well as expanding globally.

Its investors include Exto Partners and the CIA-backed US VC In-Q-Tel.

Samuel, the CEO, praised Herjavec for his experience and passion.

I’ve spent years looking for the perfect executive director global strategy and I’ve found him. I am excited to work closely with Mr Herjavec on the next phase of our incredible journey,” he said.

The serial entrepreneur, who’s become well-known as an investor on Shark Tank, both here and in the US (last year he won an Emmy as the show’s executive producer), said Zetaris is “an absolute game-changer set to revolutionise the way the world leverages real-time data” for AI.

“I see a lot of companies with great ideas, but Zetaris is set to become a household name and challenge billion-dollar companies,” he said.

“I’ve personally invested in Zetaris as it as one of the world’s leading technologies to enable rapid success in AI projects.

“This incredible company originated in Australia and has been scaling globally and in the US. I am delighted to join this innovative team and dramatically accelerate the next phase of growth. Zetaris has revolutionised the old ways of preparing data, enabling real time analytics on disparate data at source wherever it’s located.”

Zetaris chair Robert McLean said “Mr Herjavec had been investigating new and better ways to gain accurate, real time data insights to power AI projects and he has found, invested and joined Zetaris in recognition that we are the new solution the industry needs.”