Reports are in that European data protection regulators have imposed €114 million in fines under the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) regime. A further €329 million in fines have been threatened by the UK regulator. France, Germany, and Austria topped the rankings for the total value of GDPR fines imposed with just over €51 million, €24.5 million and €18 million respectively. The Netherlands, Germany and the UK topped the table for the number of data breaches notified to regulators with 40,647, 37,636 and 22,181 notifications each.
Effective from May 2018, GDPR has given rise to various privacy data startups in Europe which are aiming to capitalise on the growing demand for privacy tools and platforms.
While Germany is the second-highest we take a look at the data privacy sector in the country. Though data privacy is a highly debated topic and the need of the hour in the digital age, it is still in the nascent stage. The industry deserves more aspirational tech startups in this industry to meet the GDPR compliance. While there is ample room for growth, here are some successful data privacy startups in Germany right now.
ZenMate (Berlin)
Founders: Markus Hänel, Simon Specka
Funding: €3.2 million
Founded year: 2013
Why its hot: ZenMate works with the mission to simplify the world of online security and privacy and make the same accessible to everyone. Its software solution encrypts users’ internet connection to protect their privacy while browsing. ZenMate launched ZenGuard, which provides multi-platform security software that prevents hackers, governments, snoopers, etc. spying on users’ web browsing activities, credit card information, downloads, and more. There is a premium version of ZenMate available at a subscription cost.
Think-it (Berlin)
Founders: Mehemed Bougsea, Joscha Raue, Amel Abid
Funding: €650k
Founded year: 2017
Why its hot: Think-it is a software engineering collective, which operates on a mission to unlock human potential with technology. The company aims to accelerate North Africa’s next generation of technical leaders and integrate them as distributed full-time engineers with innovative teams across the world so that they can build life-changing products. Think-it is backed by mission-aligned partners that bridge the gap between high-skill talent supply as well as demand with a unique approach.
Usercentrics (Munich)
Founders: Lisa Gradow, Mischa Rurup
Founded year: 2017
Why its hot: Usercentrics is a leading enterprise consent management platform (CMP) that empowers companies to obtain, manage and document the consent of their users across platforms. The company aims to create a new infrastructure for user consent across various data architectures. Usercentrics’ software enables users (enterprises, agencies, and publishers) to gather, manage, and legally document their content before processing the data.
DriveLock (Munich)
Founder: Udo Riedel
Funding: €8.5 million
Founded year: 1999
Why its hot: DriveLock is one of the leading international specialists working in the data and IT security. The DriveLock Zero Trust platform combines various elements such as data protection, identity and access management, endpoint detection and response, and endpoint protection. The mission of this company is to protect its data, systems, and devices. It uses state-of-the-art technologies and experienced security solutions and experts for the purpose.
Hoccer (Berlin)
Founder: Pavel Mayer
Funding: €50 million
Founded year: 2009
Why its hot: Hoccer is a secure WhatsApp alternative that works with both Android and iOS platforms. It uses end-to-end encryption, which ensures that the message can be deciphered only by the sender and recipient. The encrypted information that is transferred to others will be saved on the Hoccer servers only until the recipient has received it, thereby making the service quite secure.
Main image picture credits: Think-it
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