Decentriq banks USD15 million to enable secure and compliant data collaboration

Powered by encryption in-use technology called confidential computing, Decentriq’s data clean rooms ensure that no one but the data owner can access their raw data uploaded onto the platform – not other participants, Decentriq, nor the cloud provider. This ensures that the data owner remains in full control of their data, thus completely preserving data privacy and adhering to the strictest regulatory standards such as GDPR.

Since 2021, Decentriq has been supporting pharmaceutical companies to access hospital data in Switzerland and Belgium in a secure and GDPR compliant manner, while 20 of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world have been collaborating in a Decentriq data cleanroom to perform benchmarking on themselves. Decentriq also enables advertisers and publishers to combine their first-party data to build and activate precise audiences in a cookie-less world. Further, Decentriq’s data clean rooms have enabled banks to update their mailing list with up-to-date addresses found in the postal companies’ database.

Today, the Zurich-based startup announced the completion of its Series A financing round led by Eclipse Ventures, an investment firm with $2.6 billion in assets under management and over 70 portfolio companies. Existing investors, including Atlantic Labs, btov Partners, and Paladin Capital Group, participated in the round. In an interview with Venturelab Maximilian Groth, CEO of Decentriq explains that he met Eclipse Ventures during the Venture Leaders Technology trip in Silicon Valley in 2021.

The funding will flow into developing and commercialising Decentriq’s data clean rooms based on AI, state-of-the-art encryption, and privacy-enhancing technologies (PET). The startup will also have the capital to expand the types of analytical tools available on the platform, such as Python, R and machine learning, and PET features like synthetic data and differential privacy to address the growing demand for secure data collaboration in new and existing markets. Growing its team across key markets in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the US is also part of the company’s plan.

This latest investment comes just over a year after a $3.8 million seed funding round in November 2020. Since then, the company has started working with new customers in the private and public sector, such as the Swiss Army and Mobiliar Insurance.

“From improving patient outcomes to leveraging first-party data for precise audience activation, we strongly believe our platform has the potential to revolutionize almost every industry and empower many more companies to unlock new value from their sensitive data with the highest levels of data privacy and security guarantees,” said Maximilian Groth. “Our data clean rooms have already positively impacted key industries, such as healthcare, advertising, and financial services.”

(Press release)