Osano Closes $5.4M Series A Funding

Arms Businesses with Automatic Protection for the New Era of Data Privacy

• Austin-headquartered turnkey data privacy platform used by over 750,000 companies to secure 3.5 million websites 
• Series A round co-led by LiveOak Venture Partners and Next Coast Ventures; individual investors include Rony Kahan (co-founder of Indeed), Brett Hurt (co-founder of Bazaarvoice)
• Recent high-profile GDPR fines and impending California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) legislation highlight the importance of bringing transparency to the complex privacy realm

AUSTIN, TX — December 19, 2019 — Osano, a company building the first platform for data privacy transparency, has announced it has closed a Series A funding round of $5.4M. The round is co-led by LiveOak Venture Partners and Next Coast Ventures, enabling Osano to further invest in R&D, marketing and new hires to meet the growing demand for its data privacy platform and tools. 

With total funding to-date of $8.4M, Osano is a turnkey data privacy platform that automates the process of data governance by automatically monitoring every single vendor sharing your business data across all websites. Compliance is built into its workflow to meet the complex requirements of government regulations, such as GDPR (now imposing heavy fines on organizations) and CCPA (legislation will go into effect on January 1, 2020). 

Over 750,000 companies use Osano on 3.5 million websites, serving 2.5 billion cookie consent pop-ups per month. With more than 3,000 new accounts signed up in the eight weeks since Osano launched its commercial offering—ranging from small businesses to media outlets to Fortune 500s—the company is experiencing unusually rapid growth, making it an immediate leader in a data-privacy category starved for solutions. 

Improving Lives While Building the Leading Data Privacy Platform

“We are proud to continue into the next round with our original investors,” said Osano Co-Founder and CEO Arlo Gilbert. “Heading into 2020, we are moving quickly to add talent to our growing team and to deepen Osano’s position as a leading data privacy platform. There is a definitive need to bring transparency to the process of how companies deal with privacy, and we are very excited about taking on this challenge to empower both individuals and organizations.”

As a B-corporation, Osano is measured both by financial growth and the number of people whose lives benefit from improved data transparency. As part of its platform and suite of tools, a team of attorneys hand-reviews the data privacy practices of each third-party website vendor, ensuring care and accuracy for every single site. To date, the attorneys have spent a total of 12,000 hours reviewing more than 10,000 companies. 

Investor Thoughts on Osano Series A Funding Round

“Osano’s unique combination of flyaway product-market fit, human-centered design, social mission and innovative technology fits across a number of our investment mantras,” said Mike Smerklo, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Next Coast Ventures. “Osano has an uncanny ability to identify trends before the rest of the world and attract the best talent to work on a solution.”

“From fake social media accounts to endless data theft, the Internet has become full of privacy and compliance hazards,” said Venu Shamapant, Founding Partner at LiveOak Venture Partners. “As laws like CCPA become commonplace, companies are scrambling to keep up with their vast networks of vendors. Osano is the right solution at the right time, and we’re proud to help companies meet their obligations without fear or pain.”

About Osano

At Osano, we believe that increasing transparency is for the good of the entire Internet. The web is built on trust, so websites, software vendors and service providers should be held accountable for how they gather, use, share and handle users’ personal data. However, current privacy policies and practices mean that rights and responsibilities are known and understood only by service providers. Founded in 2018 as a B Corporation with a clear mission, Osano’s platform, services and Privacy Monitor tools contribute to the education and transparency that represent the first step toward informing users and protecting data privacy rights. For more information, please visit osano.com. 

About LiveOak Venture Partners

LiveOak Venture Partners is a venture capital fund based in Austin, Texas, founded by Ben Scott, Krishna Srinivasan and Venu Shamapant. With 20 years of successful venture investing in Texas, the founders of LiveOak have helped create nearly $2 billion of enterprise value. While almost all of LiveOak's investments begin in the early stages, LiveOak is a full life cycle investor focused on helping create category leading technology and technology-enabled service companies based in Texas. LiveOak Venture Partners has been the lead investor in exciting high-growth Texas-based companies such as CS Disco, Digital Pharmacist, OJO Labs, Opcity, and TrustRadius.

About Next Coast Ventures

Next Coast Ventures is an Austin-based venture capital firm that partners with bold entrepreneurs building innovative companies in big markets. It provides early-stage capital to high-growth startups in ‘Next Coast’ markets, using macro trends and themes to guide their investment strategy. NCV provides hands-on, company building resources to its growing portfolio through its strong industry network, Entrepreneurs Council program and the founders’ own experiences as entrepreneurs. Learn more at www.nextcoastventures.com.

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