Portland data privacy controls startup Concord Technologies Inc. recently completed a project with the U.S. Air Force as part of a federal program that helps small businesses fund research while working with different agencies.
The strategy is part of Concord’s plans to get its product off the ground and gain early customers all while taking a more bootstrapped approach. The company was part of the Oregon Enterprise Blockchain Venture Studio and received some strategic investment from that program as well as a handful of other small investments.
Earlier this year it received a $50,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the Department of Defense under the U.S. Air Force, said CEO Dash Lavine. That grant was a Phase I project and the company is planning to pursue a larger Phase II contract. And perhaps some other Phase I work with other agencies.
Concord developed a software platform that can be used by companies to fulfill new data privacy and control requirements. With dozens of new regulations in the works in the U.S. and existing requirements in California and Europe, the space is busy as companies look for ways to comply.
Using Concord, companies can easily collect and manage consent controls from individuals. Consumers can easily access a dashboard that contains consent history, captures consent when sharing occurs and allows people to opt out or even delete their data.
“The space is hot,” said Lavine. “We really believe there is an opportunity to lead the charge as a company by embracing privacy-first data collection and methods.”
That in turn builds trust between consumers and brands that can lead to more data sharing down the line, he said.
With the SBIR grant, the company created a roadmap to help the Air Force modernize its data privacy and data collection with a focus on managing requests under privacy regulations.
Lavine knew about the SBIR program from past work with government agencies. He spent 10 years at Webtrends where he ran sales and services for government clients. Because of that experience he had programs like SBIR on his radar as a way to help build Concord.
It can be tough to navigate government requirements but is doable, he said.
The SBIR program, and its related Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, are part of annual budgets for federal agencies that have extramural R&D budgets that exceed $100 million. Those agencies are required to set aside 3.2% of those budgets to fund small businesses. Some agencies with even larger budgets must allocate 0.45%.
This all translates to more than $2 billion available in non-dilutive funds.
For Concord, the company has a handful of early customers who are expected to transition to paying customers by the end of the year. By early next year Levine expects to go out for a traditional Series A investment round.
Originally, the company was building a dual-sided exchange for information that would all people to chose how their data is used in exchange for money or better experiences. The team built an early tool and received some patents, but, the market feedback was that it was too soon, Lavine said.
So, the team shifted focus to the data compliance market. It is targeting small and mid-sized companies with plans to move into enterprise companies as the startup scales.
