A growing number of privacy regulations worldwide is forcing companies to think more seriously about securing their customers' personal data.
One big challenge many are encountering, though, is that it's difficult to keep such data safe if they can't keep track of all the places it might have spread within their own or their partners' computer systems. An employee might have kept a copy of a customer's personal information on her personal computer, for example. Or a worker might have shared such data with a colleague over a messaging application like Slack.
"You may know as a company where you keep your sensitive data, but do you know where it's gone?" said Priyadarshi "PD" Prasad, co-founder and chief product officer of LightBeam.AI Inc.
Prasad's Palo Alto startup, which just emerged from stealth Wednesday, offers a solution. Its service uses artificial intelligence to scour companies' systems to find customers' sensitive data wherever that information might be squirreled away.
Founded in 2020, LightBeam's service helps businesses comply with regulations such as the California Consumer Privacy Rights Act and the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation.
But its service does more than just help companies meet their legal obligations. It also can help them better protect themselves from hacking attacks. LightBeam's service can help them ensure they don't leave sensitive data in less secure places — or, in case of an attack, help them understand what kind of data might have been compromised.
Companies face a double-edged sword these days, Prasad said. To succeed in business, many collect lots of data on customers. But they face reputational and legal risks if that data is compromised.
"Every other day, at a very high frequency, such attacks ... get that sensitive information. Sometimes companies know, often companies don't know," Prasad said. "Everyone is trying to be data-driven these days ... The downside of that is that data is here, there, everywhere."
The data privacy market is growing
LightBeam charges customers based on where they store their data and which of those places they want it to monitor. For example, it charges a monthly fee ranging from $2,000 to $3,000 to monitor a Snowflake database, Prasad said. To keep track of personal data in applications such as Outlook or Slack, LightBeam charges a monthly per user fee of $3 to $4. Customers can pay monthly or annually.
The growing demand for privacy will help propel LightBeam's business, Prasad said. The data privacy software market is expected to grow to $25 billion by 2029, according to Fortune Business Insights.
"End users are becoming more and more conscious about data privacy, and they're putting pressure on their representative in Congress," he said. "That puts backward pressure on businesses ... Our job is to make it easy for businesses to follow the law."
Thus far, LightBeam has raised $4.5 million in funding, all of it coming in a seed round in December 2020, according to Prasad. He declined to disclose the company's finances, but said LightBeam hasn't needed any more funding than that. Its investors include 8VC, Monta Vista Capital and Village Global.
Prasad is well acquainted with data security issues. He has more than a decade of experience in data management, largely focused on data security. Before founding LightBeam, he and his two co-founders — Aditya Ramesh, the startup's chief architect; and Himanshu Shukla, its CEO — worked at Nutanix Inc., a San Jose company that offers cloud-based storage and database services. That experience gave them valuable insight into what it takes to operate a startup, Prasad said.
Like several other Silicon Valley startups, LightBeam has workers in Ukraine. It's in regular contact with them, Prasad said. Despite Russia's invasion, they are safe for now. But the situation is still stressful for all involved.
"We almost feel helpless in that situation," Prasad said. "People who are part of their specific teams have really stepped up to make sure that they don't feel any undue pressure — they need to take care of themselves and their safety first."
