DataMasque, the data de-identification and synthetic data platform, announced Friday it has raised $4 million in funding led by Wavemaker Ventures, the early-stage fund of Wavemaker Partners, with existing investors OIF Ventures and Icehouse Ventures doubling down.
The funding will accelerate DataMasque’s aim to give highly regulated organizations the ability to leverage their most valuable data assets without increased risk, the firm said in a statement.
Strengthening its board, DataMasque also appointed Co-founder of Instaclustr (acquired by NetApp) and seasoned investor Peter Lilley, as well as co-founder and managing partner of Wavemaker Partners Paul Santos, as it scales across key markets.
“Enterprise AI projects are increasingly blocked by data access,
“This funding validates the need for synthetically identical customer data to feed into AI models or use to evaluate, test and train AI,” said Grant de Leeuw, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of DataMasque.
With the funding, new board expertise, and expanded product capability, DataMasque said the firm is positioned to become the data infrastructure layer powering enterprise AI adoption globally.
It is noted that the its team has tripled headcount and achieved 6 times annual recurring revenue (ARR) growth since its seed round in late 2023.
Its growing global customer roster includes New York Life, ADP, Best Western Hotels and Resorts, One NZ, TAL, and government agencies across New Zealand, Australia and the United States.
“As enterprises feed more data into AI systems, they need a way to protect sensitive information without compromising datasets used for testing and analytics. DataMasque’s platform solves that,
“The company has helped customers to mask data 7 times faster, reducing traditional masking workflows from days to hours,” said Paul Santos, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Wavemaker Partners.
“The strength of its value proposition has enabled the company to win multiple customers in BFSI, government, and telecommunications globally, and we are excited to partner with DataMasque for its next chapter of growth,” he added.
Alongside the funding, DataMasque has launched a first-of-its-kind capability that unlocks unstructured data – such as call transcripts, emails and logs – for AI and analytics.
“When we first invested in 2023, few enterprises had recognized the sensitive data problem that the DataMasque team saw,
“Today, it’s blocking nearly every serious AI rollout. Grant and the team are building the data infrastructure layer for enterprise AI, and we’re proud to be doubling down,” said Isabella Rich, Partner, OIF Ventures.
Bex Gidall, Principal, Icehouse Ventures, said with a lean team based largely in New Zealand, DataMasque has managed to win highly competitive enterprise deals against far better-resourced global competitors.
“At a time when companies are trying to work out how to deploy AI safely, we think they’re exceptionally well-positioned,
“There are major tailwinds behind the space, but tailwinds alone don’t win contracts like the ones DataMasque has secured,” he added.