Hampshire tech firm InfoSum has added $5 million to its seed funding, taking the total raised to date to $8m, which it will use to go to market.
The Basingstoke-based company seeks to unlock companies’ commercial potential by enabling the sharing of data from various silos through decentralised technology.
It says doing so will give every organisation access to the same breadth and depth of data currently considered to be the privilege of today’s super brands.
LocalGlobe’s Saul Klein and Mosaic Ventures have joined existing investors Mark Suster (Upfront Ventures) and Roger Ehrenberg (IA Ventures).
“We all understand that data is extremely valuable in helping companies develop better, more sophisticated services,” said Klein.
“The challenge is that to unlock that potential, you’ve got to share it. The ability to collaborate with multiple data sources, whilst at the same time preserving its governance, security and consent, is very much the Holy Grail.
“The market opportunity is clear, combine that with the existing investors and the fact that Nick is one of the best minds globally when it comes to data, made getting involved a total no brainer.”
Distributed data is anonymised by the tech at source, eliminating privacy risks as the data is not pooled or shared with third parties.
Companies can now discover new dimensions of data whilst meeting all data protection regulations, including the GDPR.
Nick Halstead, founder and CEO at InfoSum, said: “The value of data is often held within more than one company, but sharing data is a precarious endeavour because it requires data to be centralised.
“This makes it vulnerable to all sorts of liabilities, including re-identification which is increasingly frowned upon by regulators around the globe.
“Decentralised technology will disrupt how companies share and collaborate on data, obliterating the competitive barriers currently in place.”
The additional investment will also be used to build the company’s senior management team. The first appointment is Nicola Walker, who joins as chief commercial officer.