Israeli privacy startup Mine successfully raised $9.5 million in its Series A investment round. The data privacy firm is currently developing a platform for finding and managing personal data on the Internet. It counts Google’s AI venture fund, Gradient Ventures, as its lead investor for the Series A funding round.
According to CTech, backing Mine is the first investment made by Gradient Ventures in an Israeli firm. Apart from the Google AI-focused investment arm, other investors who supported Mine also included MassMutual Ventures and e.ventures, both new investors of the company.
Meanwhile, existing investors of the firm, Battery Ventures and Saban Ventures, also participated in the said round of funding. After the $9.5 million Series A funding round, this brings Mine’s total funding to $12.5 million just over a year after the company launched.
Venture Beat states that the funding comes as the Israeli company prepares to take over the United States, shortly after it launched its services in Israel and Europe.
As of writing, the data privacy firm counts approximately 100,000 people as users of the app. According to Venture Beat, these app users have leveraged Mine’s technology to levy around 1.3 million data-reclaim requests to over 150,000 companies around the globe.
Founded by chief executive officer Gal Ringel, chief technology officer Gal Golan, and chief purchasing officer Kobi Nissan in 2018, Mine specializes in providing users access to tools that help determine companies who have and use their personal data.
Tech Crunch states Ringel and Golan come from both the same cybersecurity unit of the Israeli Defense Forces called Unit 8200.
Mine’s platform works by identifying certain companies that have collected user data and the number of times these firms appear on a person’s mailbox. Following this, Venture Beat states that the platform crawls these corporations’ privacy policies to gauge the type of data they are obtaining from individuals.
In a statement to CTech, co-founder and CEO Ringel said, “Data privacy is without a doubt a mainstream concern, but most people don’t know how to control who holds their personal data. We want to change this by making privacy regulations accessible and easy for everyone, so consume can set their own terms and draw the line on what data they are willing to share.”
“By streamlining the Right-To-Be-Forgotten processes, we are bridging the gap between consumers and companies which will shape a new future of ownership,” continued Ringel.
Following the cash infusion, Mine reportedly plans to use its funding to support its expansion in the United States. It currently has offices in Tel Aviv and New York and has 16 employees under its name.
