Dublin's Sytorus has secured €1.7m to help companies keep up with data protection rules
The money will be pumped into European expansion and opening a German office for the firm.
DATA PROTECTION SOFTWARE firm Sytorus has raised €1.7 million in new funding to help clients stay compliant with new privacy and security regulations.
The Dublin-based company develops a software-as-a-service platform called PrivacyEngine that helps organisations manage their compliance with data protection rules like the recently implemented GDPR.
The funding was led by the Bank of Ireland’s Kernel Capital-managed growth fund with participation from Enterprise Ireland and a number of private investors.
It is understood that the investment is Sytorus’ first step in raising a larger multimillion-euro round. It previously raised around €130,000 from investors in a 2016 seed round.
The company, founded in 2013, said it has more than 300 customers using its software and plans to invest the funds in opening a new office in Frankfurt. It currently has 50 employees across its offices in Dublin, London and Stockholm.
Chief executive John Ghent said the investment will “help us to deliver these tools to data protection leaders across the EU”.
John Ghent (second from left)
New regulations
Kernel Capital partner Orla Rimmington said that evolving data protection and privacy laws were creating new opportunities for companies like Sytorus.
The market for data protection services is tipped to be worth $120 billion by 2023, according to a report by US research firm Market Research Engine.
The EU-level regulation GDPR, implemented in May, places a higher degree of responsibility on companies to better protect their customers’ data or face fines up to 4% of global turnover.
“GDPR represents the biggest overhaul of the world’s privacy rules since the birth of the internet,” Rimmington said.
