Data breaches are becoming an all-too common occurrence in today’s world.
With a variety of companies holding swaths of private data on each of us and hackers snooping around to access it, organizations are being forced to up their data management processes.
For many companies, managing data is an arduous task, requiring a hefty amount of time and effort in manual employee processes.
And, that doesn’t account for the hours spent retrieving data for customers that file requests or for government entities that are checking to see if organizations are following regulations.
After holding executive roles in technology at the London Stock Exchange and State Street, Moiz Kohari saw an opportunity to automate a manual data privacy process in a way that creates a more transparent and secure system for customers and companies.
So, the Telluride resident brought his team together on a new project: Manetu.
The company officially launched its cloud-based consumer privacy management platform this week, closing a $3.5 million seed round led by Nic Carter’s blockchain-focused Castle Island Ventures.
“The motivation around Manetu is simply the fact that if you look at how enterprises handle privacy today, it is a very disjointed and time-consuming process,” Kohari said.
Manetu empowers the user to take control of their data, allowing them to self-manage their personal data, including providing or revoking consent to the use of that data.
For many organizations, Kohari said, responding to a customer’s request for data can take upwards of 20 hours. Manetu has eliminated that manual process.
“In our scenario, we’ve created a self-service portal for the data subject to come in and view, with permissions, exactly what information is held on them,” he said.
Manetu connects to the data stores organizations already use, including SalesForce, Microsoft Dynamics, Outlook, Oracle and others.
The startup’s machine-learning algorithms scan those data-stores for any and all personal information enterprises hold, organizes and classifies that data, and pulls an encrypted copy of it into Manetu’s control plane.
Manetu itself can never view the data, Kohari said, as only the enterprise and data subject have the appropriate keys to decrypt that data.
After a year working on the platform, Manetu launched this week with customers including international investment bank AGC Partners.
“AGC Partners subscribes to the Manetu CPM platform to better manage sensitive information about our clients and prospects,” chief compliance officer Paige Rand said in a statement. “Our use of their personal data is controlled and authorized directly by its owners and our enterprise systems automatically update to reflect their preferences and consents.”
With the recent launch, Manetu is focused on onboarding additional customers and continuing to evolve the platform.
Consumer data is becoming an increasingly important asset for companies, Kohari said, and thus protecting it is crucial.
“The product in the new age today is us, our information,” he said. “How do you give control back to the consumers in an appropriate fashion?”
