Gener8 – a free-to-use app empowering people to control and be rewarded from their data – has announced a £2 million funding round, valuing the company at £39m.
The startup, which featured on our MarTech 50 ranking this year, says it remains on track to become the UK’s latest unicorn before the end of the decade.
A consortium of investors participated in the round and joined past investors including musician Tinie Tempah, legendary football manager, Harry Redknapp, and Dragons’ Den stars, Peter Jones, Touker Suleyman, Tej Lalvani, among others.
Gener8 is creating a movement to highlight the importance of protecting our online data and the diverse nature of backers shows that this issue affects many from all walks of life. It turns your online data into real-world rewards: from gift cards and gadgets to exclusive offers and charity donations. It’s like frequent flyer miles for the internet.
“The world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil but data, and as a result of this everything that happens online is being tracked,” said founder Sam Jones. “The majority of websites we visit and apps we use place trackers on us to follow our movements and understand our behaviour.
“These trackers enable tens, and sometimes thousands, of companies to collect our information and they consequently exploit or sell it to make money from our data.
“But this is our information and at Gener8 we believe people should have a choice to stop this or, even better, to earn from it themselves.”
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Gener8 also reveals what information other apps hold on you. It visualises this in an easy to understand manner and then empowers users to exchange their anonymised data from these companies for Gener8 rewards – should they choose to.
No data leaves a person’s device or passes through any of Gener8’s systems without their explicit consent. All insights are generated on a user’s device and data is only shared if they choose to. All data is anonymised, so personal information is never shared with anyone.
In academia and government there has been a concept called PIMS (personal information management systems). This is essentially the idea that in the future there will be systems that are created that enable people to centralise their data into one location. Gener8 is now doing that today.
Jones continued: “Think about it. Isn’t it crazy that we don’t even know which companies buy and sell our data?
“In fact, we don’t even know what data company’s hold on us. What do Facebook and Google know about you? Why do spam emails keep landing in your inbox? Well, with the Gener8 app you can connect to different apps and we’ll show the data that these apps hold on you.
“So, if for example you connect to Google, we can show you all the data that Google holds on you – every search you’ve ever made, every YouTube video you’ve watched, every ad that you’ve clicked on. It’s mind boggling.
“We can then enable you to delete this data from Google. Or should you choose you can anonymise your data and can earn from it. When we launched the app in 2023 we were the first company in the world to enable people to centralise their data into one location and earn from it.”
Headquartered in London, Gener8 products have more than one million downloads, with the app being downloaded every 90 seconds. The company has grown to 26 employees and is on track to be another UK tech unicorn this decade.
Jones added: “With consumers and regulators all around the world wising up to the extent of online surveillance, personal data management has the potential to be a multi-billion-pound, winner-takes-most global market. As it stands, Gener8 is well-positioned to win this race, and to bring more digital success to the UK.”