Data privacy laws are on the march — and Arlington startup WireWheel has raised $19.3 million to help companies deal with an increasing set of regulations and expectations.
WireWheel's new funding, first disclosed in a Jan. 27 federal filing, comes roughly a year after the company announced a $10.6 million raise in February 2020. That brings the local startup's total raised to about $43 million, according to data from venture firm PitchBook.
The startup has attracted investors such as Chevy Chase venture powerhouse New Enterprise Associates Inc., fellow Arlington firm Sands Capital, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Fund out of D.C., Chicago-based PSP Growth and Vienna's Grotech Ventures. They were all led this time by high-profile cyber investor ForgePoint Capital, one of whose principals, Andrew McClure, is now on WireWheel's board.
This venture funding comes as U.S. states and foreign countries alike continue to pass data privacy laws holding companies accountable for safeguarding information and allowing consumers to opt out of various data collection efforts. The European Union General Data Protection Regulation went into effect in 2018, while California passed similar regulations in 2018, amending it in 2020. Virginia is set to pass its own data privacy law, while others are mulling their own versions.
WireWheel has software that automates the process from the consumer side — allowing users to opt out of data collection or request copies of their data — as well as on the enterprise side, including creating compliance records for how the data is treated and protected, or how user data is removed from their marketing systems upon request.
“We think there is an incredible opportunity in data privacy,” said CEO and co-founder Justin Antonipillai. “It’s an area where companies are trying to get ahead of things and build trust with their customers, and having the right technical infrastructure can really help companies do it in the right way and that's really what we are looking to scale up this year.”
WireWheel, which has more than 50 employees, has grown over the years since its founding in 2016, offering more tools, landing big customers such as T-Mobile and, more recently, spearheading a growing privacy technology conference named “SPOKES” with top leaders and lawmakers in the data privacy arena. The company has also released a developers kit to allow companies to build privacy tools into their own software as they create it.
In 2021, that growth includes rolling out new features and growing its sales and marketing efforts, he said. Now that companies are building and hosting their software in the cloud, it could be used anytime and anywhere, meaning that data privacy compliance is more important than ever, Antonipillai said.
“I think any company thinking about going to market is thinking about how you conquer your little patch of grass and then how you offer it to the rest of the world. Privacy is one of those things you have to be prepared for, so you don’t get into trouble when you go to market,” he said.
The company’s Arlington location has also served as a big positive, he said, citing a growing tech presence — and one newly anchored by Amazon.com Inc.'s second headquarters.
“This is a great place to be in business,” he said. “The tech community here has been really supportive.”
That said, the spread of Covid-19 and the now virtual nature of the workforce has meant the company could be more location-agnostic about their new hires, which has resulted in onboarding employees from around the country.
The company was also additionally approved for a Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program loan for $952,280 in April 2020, according to SBA data.
Antonipillai, who served as a deputy general counsel and acting undersecretary at the Department of Commerce under President Barack Obama, co-founded WireWheel in 2016 in Arlington.
Amol Deshpande, another co-founder and its current chief scientist, is a member of the U.S. Technical Advisory Group and a professor at the University of Maryland. Christopher Getner, the company’s chief solutions architect, has a background in startups, having served as the co-founder and chief technology officer of GEN3i, an enterprise solutions vendor, as well as the CEO of Hilo Inc. He was also the CEO of Aaxis Technologies and CTO at WebPerfect Solutions, among other roles.
This story has been updated with an interview with WireWheel's CEO. An earlier version of this story omitted one of its investors in the new round, and incorrectly named a member of its board.
