Hazy, formerly known as Anon AI and winner of ‘Best in Cybersecurity’ at UKTN’s Elevator Pitch LIVE, has raised $1.8m in Seed funding.
The London-based AI company which enables GDPR-compliant data sharing raised from UCL Technology Fund (lead investor), alongside Nationwide Building Society, Pentland, Amadeus Capital Partners, AI Seed and other investors.
Hazy, which raised £340,000 in pre-Seed funding in January this year, has now raised $2.8m in total Seed funding following a $1m cash injection from M12 and Notion in May.
Founded less than a year and a half ago, the company was spun out of UCL and claims its proprietary AI engine is able to seek out and anonymise personal data buried in datasets.
The company offers a cloud-base solution and says it’s working with startups to international banks and the UK government.
Hazy was founded by Harry Keen, an engineer; James Arthur, the former CTO and co-founder of Opendesk; and Dr. Fintan Nagle, a visual neuroscientist at UCL specialising in machine learning and statistical modelling.
Keen, the CEO, said: “In recent months we have seen a seismic cultural shift around data. Consumers are acutely aware of the importance of data security and GDPR legislation means that businesses rightly now consider safe data-handling as mission-critical.
“Our technology ensures that huge, unwieldy data sets are GDPR-compliant. Recognising that most companies don’t have data experts, Hazy has been built to require zero technical integration, or any technical expertise. We are proud to be working with organisations ranging from major banks and building societies, to small businesses and UK central government and we are excited to continue developing our solution as we launch our product more widely.”
David Grimm, investment director at Albion Capital, which manages the UCL Technology Fund, said: “Big data analytics offers unparalleled opportunities for startups and corporate giants alike, but also puts data security at the top of the agenda for the world’s regulators. Hazy’s solution is a game changer, enabling businesses to automatically anonymise complex datasets without the need for a lengthy technical integration with internal systems. We are excited to support the team through the next phase of growth.”