Privacy Protection Platform WireWheel Closes $10 Million in Financing

ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- WireWheel, the Software-as-a-Service platform that modernizes global data privacy compliance, announced the closing of a $10 million Series A round. New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and PSP Growth (PSP) led the investment round, with participation from existing and new investors Grotech Ventures, Sands Capital Ventures and Revolution's Rise of the Rest Seed Fund. Total capital raised to date stands at $13 million. In connection with the investment, Dayna Grayson of NEA, and Michael Oleshansky of PSP will join WireWheel's Board of Directors.

WireWheel's data privacy platform leverages on-premise and cloud infrastructure to enable faster and more efficient privacy compliance, with unique product features that build trust with current and potential customers faster. The platform's advanced monitoring and automation capabilities help companies remain compliant over time.

"While I served as Commerce Secretary, I saw first-hand how important privacy protection is to people here in the United States, and all over the world - as a matter of human rights, trade, and national security.  Now, more than ever, it is clear that protecting privacy is a key matter of trust for companies all around the world - with California joining Europe, Japan, and India, among others, in enforcing privacy protection," said Penny Pritzker, Founder and Chairman of PSP Partners and PSP Growth.  "Led by a team of experts in privacy and technology, WireWheel is a unique cloud-based technology platform that enables business leaders to quickly address both the compliance and commercial privacy needs of their companies. We are delighted to support WireWheel as it helps tackle these significant challenges."

WireWheel CEO, Justin Antonipillai, founded the company in late 2016, after leading the Economic and Statistics Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce under President Obama. Among other things, Antonipillai led the American negotiating team in reaching the landmark EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework with Europe.  He also led extensive dialogues with European regulators on GDPR as it was being considered for approval.

"Privacy protection is a key trust, customer, and compliance matter, and we're just scratching the surface of how powerful technology can be to help protect data privacy," said Justin Antonipillai, WireWheel's CEO. "The WireWheel platform leverages cloud infrastructure and cloud services, machine learning, and beautiful, innovative design to enable faster compliance for our customers. Our platform has built-in, technology-driven features to enable our customers to demonstrate their trustworthiness as custodians of personal data, which is critical."

Performance apparel retailer and WireWheel customer, Under Armour, was impressed by how agile the platform was when compared to the competition. "We explored a number of privacy solutions and WireWheel was the clear choice.  Its innovative and thoughtful approach to a complex challenge is one that has delivered centralized visibility and game-changing efficiencies at a very competitive price," said Toke Vandervoort, VP, Deputy General Counsel of Under Armour. "The central data mapping feature has also delivered some unexpected returns on the investment, making the whole relationship with WireWheel a value driver, not only to our privacy program, but to the business at large."

The Series A financing builds on an exceptional year for WireWheel which saw key executive appointments and a rapidly growing roster of customers including Blackboard and Under Armour. The funding round will help further innovate on product capabilities, expand sales and marketing efforts, and launch a partner program.

According to Steve Case, Chairman and CEO of Revolution and co-founder of AOL, "WireWheel is leveraging local expertise in policy, especially privacy and data protection, and combining that with know-how on databases, machine learning, and technical infrastructure. We are excited about the WireWheel product and are proud to support them as they take on data privacy and data protection challenges."

NEA participated in WireWheel's seed round as well.  Dayna Grayson is a partner at NEA who believes, "Data privacy protection is an increasingly significant issue, and we are excited about WireWheel's team, customers, and product.  Key to us has been WireWheel's features that enable the responsible use of personal data. WireWheel gives companies an opportunity to promote and build trust with clients and customers while avoiding significant risk that impacts the bottom line."

About WireWheel, Inc.

Based in Arlington, VA, WireWheel uses human-assisted machine learning and integrations into cloud infrastructure and on-premises and cloud data stores, to help companies comply more quickly and efficiently with privacy regulations around the world, including the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the new California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).  Founded by leading experts in privacy protection, application development, and data engineering, WireWheel brings a beautiful, privacy-designed platform to manage privacy programs at scale, and is changing the way companies protect personal information and build trust with their customers.  Learn more at www.wirewheel.io, or arrange a demo at [email protected].

About PSP Growth and PSP Capital

PSP Partners is a Chicago-based private investment firm founded by its Chairman Penny Pritzker, an entrepreneur, civic leader and philanthropist, and former U.S. Secretary of Commerce. The firm is comprised of a highly experienced team of investment professionals and business builders focused on partnering with entrepreneurs, business owners and management teams to build market-leading businesses and develop valuable assets.  With investment strategies focused on established businesses (PSP Capital), emerging/growth companies (PSP Growth) and real assets (Pritzker Realty Group), PSP Partners invests across stages and asset classes with an emphasis on three primary segments of the economy - business & technology services, housing, and industrials - that are well-aligned with its expertise and experience.  For more information, visit www.psppartners.com.

About NEA

New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) is a global venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors and geographies. With more than $20 billion in cumulative committed capital since the firm's founding, NEA invests in technology and healthcare companies at all stages in a company's lifecycle, from seed stage through IPO. The firm's long track record of successful investing includes more than 220 portfolio company IPOs and more than 370 acquisitions. www.nea.com.

SOURCE WireWheel

Related Links

http://www.wirewheel.io

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