Ketch Raises $23M to Automate Privacy & Data Compliance

Ketch Secures $23 Million in Series A Funding to Simplify Data Compliance

Ketch, a company focused on assisting businesses with the challenges of online privacy regulations and data compliance, has announced the completion of a $23 million Series A funding round.

This announcement also marks the official public launch of the startup. Previously, a free tool offered by Ketch, called PrivacyGrader, was highlighted, but now the company is detailing its comprehensive vision and the paid products designed for businesses.

Founders with a Proven Track Record

The company was established by Tom Chavez, serving as CEO, and Vivek Vaidya, the CTO. Both previously co-founded Krux, a data management platform that was acquired by Salesforce in 2016. Vaidya explained that Ketch represents a solution to a question they posed to themselves: “How can we create an infrastructure that would have improved our capabilities in the past?”

Chavez emphasized that Ketch is engineered to automate the process of maintaining compliance with data regulations, regardless of customer or visitor location. He pointed out that while regulations like Europe’s GDPR encourage a tendency to adhere to the strictest global standards, this approach isn’t always necessary or optimal.

“Data can be leveraged for growth while simultaneously ensuring regulatory compliance,” Chavez stated. “We’ve seen instances where customers have halted digital marketing entirely to achieve compliance. This needs to change.” He cited a responsible customer who lacked awareness of available tools to manage this complexity.

Beyond Privacy Banners: True Compliance Requires Action

The founders highlighted the intricacies of achieving genuine compliance, extending beyond simply displaying a privacy banner. It necessitates the actual implementation of customer requests across all relevant platforms.

Vaidya illustrated this with the example of an email unsubscribe request, explaining that a “complex workflow is required to guarantee the email is no longer sent and that the customer’s preferences are promptly honored.”

Chavez added that simply addressing data deletion requests within a company’s own systems is insufficient. If a customer continues to receive marketing emails or targeted advertisements after requesting data deletion, assurances of internal compliance will not be satisfactory.

Integration, Not Replacement

Ketch is not intended to replace existing marketing or customer data tools, Chavez clarified. Instead, it aims to “enable customers to define their compliance strategy based on the jurisdictions in which they operate.”

Patreon’s legal counsel, Priya Sanger, affirmed this in a statement, describing Ketch as “an easily configurable consent management and orchestration system” that was quickly integrated into their systems internationally, “requiring minimal engineering effort.”

Investment Details and Future Plans

The Series A funding was led by CRV, with participation from super{set}, Ridge Ventures, Acrew Capital, and Silicon Valley Bank. Izhar Armony from CRV and Theresia Gouw from Acrew Capital will be joining Ketch’s board of directors.

For those interested in learning more about Ketch’s offerings, a webinar is scheduled for 11am Pacific time today.