DataGrail raises $45 million to help companies protect consumer privacy
DataGrail has closed $45 million in Series C funding in an oversubscribed round that brings DataGrail’s total funding to $84.2 million.
Third Point Ventures led the round, with participation from Thomson Reuters Ventures and Sixty Degree Capital as well as previous investors Felicis Ventures, Operator Collective, Next47, Cloud Apps Capital and others. Third Point Ventures Partner Dan Moskowitz will join DataGrail’s Board of Directors as the company continues to scale to meet the needs of an evolving data privacy landscape.
Serving companies from mid-market to the world’s largest enterprises, DataGrail’s rapidly growing client base consists of companies that depend on the platform to help effectively manage massive amounts of personal data. Leaders like Salesforce, New Balance, Instacart, Skillshare and MyFitnessPal have chosen DataGrail as their solution to build trust with consumers while staying on the right side of an expanding list of state, national and international data privacy regulations.
This funding comes as the burgeoning global data privacy software market was $1.68 billion in 2021 and is projected to hit $25.85 billion by 2029 as more organizations aim to optimize their privacy practices. Even the most well-intentioned companies aren’t sure about where all of their data lies and/or how to adhere to customer requests efficiently without a negative impact on their businesses. Not only that, privacy regulations—such as GDPR or CPRA—are often vague, hard to understand, yet require organizations to collaborate with colleagues who have less knowledge about the laws and their requirements.
DataGrail aims to help, not only with its software platform but through a newly launched community that connects privacy professionals so that they can actively learn together and build a privacy powered future. The company also released a new product, Risk Monitor, that makes it easier for privacy teams to collaborate cross-functionally on privacy-related tasks. Risk Monitor reduces the workload on day-to-day users while evangelizing good privacy practices across companies by unpacking the legalese behind data privacy initiatives when filling out risk assessments—like DPIAs, PIAs or any third-party assessments required.
“DataGrail is leading companies through a period of radical transformation in which consumers are demanding changes that alter how business is conducted,” said Moskowitz. “The company removes the complexity from data privacy management to enable businesses’ actions to match their intent and their policies. In return, companies are better positioned to win consumers’ trust at a time when customer acquisition and retention is essential.”
“DataGrail’s technology and approach are far ahead of others in the space, and the company can fulfill a vital need for our customers,” said Tamara Steffens, Managing Director of Thomson Reuters Ventures. “We see enormous potential. In fact we are exploring a partnership to introduce the DataGrail platform to the many GCs, law firms and accounting firms who use Thomson Reuters’ solutions.”
Demonstrating value
As a testament to the strength and quality of DataGrail’s platform, as well as the company’s approach to educating companies on best practices in the changing world of data privacy, the company has more than doubled its customer base over the past year.
“DataGrail has been an invaluable partner to us,” said Lawrence Morrisson, Head of Information Technology at The Motley Fool. “Our mission at The Motley Fool is to make the world smarter, happier and richer. Achieving that mission requires being good stewards of the information entrusted to us by our members and prospects. DataGrail helps us ensure that all personal information is treated with the respect it deserves to continue building on the positive relationships we have with our current and potential members.”
To enable more enterprise companies to make privacy their competitive advantage, DataGrail is delivering on its vision to build a Privacy Control Center. This hub empowers legal, security and executive teams to run impactful privacy programs and understand their real-time risk, creating the flywheel of brand trust that increases revenue. DataGrail’s recent innovation, its internal systems Integrations agent + API, identifies risk in internal data sources and offers the most comprehensive privacy request fulfillment.
DataGrail continues to hire aggressively, experiencing more than 100% employee growth since September 2021, and earlier this year, the company rounded out its executive team with two seasoned executives. Cathy Polinsky, formerly of Shopify, Stitch Fix and Salesforce, joined as DataGrail’s CTO, overseeing ongoing product development as the company continues to scale to meet the demands of modern data privacy management. Sam East joined in July and serves as CRO, further advancing DataGrail into its next phase of growth by helping to scale the company to reach new enterprises, markets and industries.
DataGrail was also recently recognized by Comparably in 2022 as an organization with the best perks and benefits, work-life balance, compensation, career growth, leadership team and CEO for Women. Additionally, it was recognized as having the “happiest” employees.
“DataGrail is at the forefront of a data privacy revolution,” said DataGrail Co-founder and CEO Daniel Barber. “Difficult and important work must be done, and we are rising to the challenge. Our vision for the future of data privacy is one that grants control, treating privacy as a human right, while empowering businesses to provide transparency. With our team and backers in place and firmly aligned with this mission, DataGrail will accomplish great things.”