BigID, a company that develops tools for protecting privacy on the Internet, announced today (Wednesday) that it has raised $ 70 million in Round D at a value of over $ 1 billion. The current round of investments was led by Salesforce Ventures and Crow Tiger Global, and Glynn Capital participated along with existing investors, Bessemer Venture Partners, Scale Venture Partners and Boldstart Ventures. The transaction included primary and secondary shares. This is the company’s third round of funding in a period of just over a year, after its C round doubled in 4 months, to date it has raised a total of $ 220 million.
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BigID was founded in 2016 by Dimitri Sirota and Nimrod Wax and is located in New York and Tel Aviv. The company has developed a platform for managing and enforcing online information privacy policies in accordance with regulatory requirements and new stringent regulations such as European law and California laws. The technology developed by the company uses machine learning capabilities and enables quick identification and control of private information.
“This is a third round that we raised in a little over a year and not everyone was our initiative but happened following investors’ inquiries to us,” Nimrod Wax, co-founder and vice president of the product, tells Calcalist. “This time it is a strategic investor, Salesforce Ventures, which is significantly increasing its investment in the wake of the Corona epidemic. The epidemic has actually increased interest in privacy, also because the issue has made headlines following the need to protect public health. As a result, and because the company has established itself as a leader in this relatively new field, investors are looking at us as a promise. “
After two consecutive fundraisers of $ 50 million each, do you still need the money?
‘Not immediately, we did not use most of the money raised in the last year, but we agreed to take it because the conditions were attractive and it allows us to open up significant gaps with competitors, especially in a time of global recession. In addition, money allows us to invest in development and enter new areas we have not been to before, such as the field of information management. Organizations do not know what information they are collecting, the issue of Data Discovery has become a cornerstone in organizations. With the help of the additional financing, we will expand our product basket to other places and we will be able to reach new markets: geographically and vertically. ”
We have recently heard a lot about regulatory activity in the field of privacy and the use of information designed to curb the technology giant. It is good and beautiful to take care of the issue in large organizations, but at the same time the top 5 companies continue to do whatever they please.
‘In the end, the big companies will be treatable. If there are 5 companies that are duopoly or monopoly In their area it is true that they are evasive and not easy to manage, but they are in the spotlight and I believe the law enforcement will know how to deal with them. But there are thousands of other very large companies that use private information all the time. It is not even about enforcement but about a better knowledge of the information they collect in order to derive more value from it and also to know how to preserve it. We enable them to manage the information in a better, more efficient and responsible way. Our clients are not just looking to do V on regulation, they understand the value in getting insights into the information to help them protect it and most companies are not cynical in their handling. They really want to show customers that they care. I do not think there is a conflict between the companies and the law. ‘
Nimrod Wax and Dimitri Sirota, founders of Big Photo: Courtesy of BigID
We see what is happening in the world in terms of legislation, but it seems that the State of Israel is a little behind.
“The State of Israel is in the eighties in this respect, apparently there are other priorities for legislators in the country, but Israel will have no choice and it will have to adhere to European laws. Europe defines which countries have a set of laws that support privacy protection requirements and Israel still meets this definition, but if it does not advance privacy protection legislation it will not continue. Things like the right to be forgotten, or the management of the issue of consent to the use of information. In the United States, too, we see a different orientation whose considerations are more considerations of competition and less of the moral aspect. In Europe the background to legislation is more moral. In the United States, this is treated as the customer’s property right to the information. But today every significant company has customers all over the world, so everyone will have to draw a line. “Especially with the new administration in the United States,” I’m sure it will be a high priority. “
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We have also seen that the treatment of Corona often comes at the expense of maintaining privacy, of course in Israel, it is possible to do things and also protect the right of citizens to privacy?
‘You can do both. Whether you choose to give up privacy or not, it is clear that awareness of privacy and the implications of relinquishing it have risen in the Corona crisis, whether it is for the public health or the commercial aspect. Consumer decisions will probably be influenced by the environmental situation. We have seen that most people are willing to give up their privacy and sign up for different apps, but many people do not know that this can be done in a much more privacy friendly way. It is no problem to follow you if you give the permission and know for what purposes it is intended and that the follow-up is only used to maintain health and not to determine the amount of your insurance premium, for example. In this context, everything can be done if permission is obtained and transparency is provided. But the great challenges of organizations that often do not even have the ability to maintain themselves and here we help them give the customer transparency and the ability to choose. ”