Dataships, the Dublin-based data compliance & relationship management firm, has closed a €2.6 million seed funding round led by US-based Urban Innovation Fund and Lavrock Ventures – with participation from Tony Smurfit, Peter Crowley and the NDRC, operated by Dogpatch Labs.
Founded in 2019, Dataships is on a mission to prove just how effortless data compliance is and how beneficial first party relationships can be for organizations. From privacy policies to cookie consent tools, GDPR to CCPA, Dataships aims to make it simple for SMEs. Customers are increasingly seeking transparency on how their data is being used and access to their personal data.
Dataships has created a SaaS solution to automate core international compliance and data privacy laws and help companies navigate the wider industry shift from third party to first party data relationships, which is being enforced by Google and Apple.
Talking about the funding round, Julie Lein, Managing Partner, Urban Innovation Fund comment ed: “Startups and SMBs generally have no idea how to begin approaching the myriad of new data privacy laws and standards being issued (GDPR in the EU, CCPA in CA, etc). We’re excited to see Dataships step in with their seamless solution for companies like Kerrygold Butter and Zipp Mobility. We’re proud to back Michael, Ryan, and the entire Dataships team as they build the ‘Gusto for compliance.’”
Co-founders Michael Storan and Ryan McErlane’s experience of this problem comes from different ends of the spectrum. Michael experienced this problem first hand in his previous start up, Fantasy Rugger which was successfully sold to RugbyPass in 2017. Ryan’s experience meanwhile comes from the enterprise where he worked with EY advising technology companies on how to navigate compliance issues. Two years on and Dataships is thriving with over 70 customers.
Speaking on the shift from third to first party data, Dataships Co-founder Michael Storan staed: “Between GDPR, cookies and major forces such as Google and Apple constantly changing the rules of engagement, data privacy compliance has become unnecessarily confusing for business owners & marketers. We’re here to unravel all of this and show companies the happy path of compliance, how easy it can be but also how beneficial it is to have compliant first party data in your organisation. The future will be defined by having first party access to your customers so it’s table stakes to have healthy data relationships with them, or as we call them: Dataships.”
