Personal Data Start-Ups - UK
The 3 top UK companies that are offering consumers more value from their personal data are the Pillar Project, Digi.me and People.io. Please see the attached spreadsheet for value comparisons, and the list below for more information on these top 3 companies.
We began our deep dive by defining the term "personal data". We found that "personal data" is defined as "any information that relates to an identified or identifiable living individual. Different pieces of information, which collected together can lead to the identification of a particular person, also constitute personal data." From there, we researched a number of different UK companies that offer consumers value for their personal data. We focused on startups, which are defined as anything pre-IPO. We were then able to rank the top 3 companies based on the amount of their total investment. Please see the attached spreadsheet for these investment amounts. Because these are private companies, public financial data is protected and unavailable beyond the investment amount. The spreadsheet columns regarding revenue and number of customers read "N/A" for that reason.
Below you will find the top 3 companies, as well as a brief overview of the products/services they offer.
The Pillar Project "provides an innovative method of giving consumers the power to control their data, and for companies to be GDPR compliant." They explain that they "want people around the world to take back control of their personal data."
Services Offered: The Pillar Project offers consumers the Pillar Wallet- "a next-generation, open-source wallet that will become the dashboard to your digital life." The Pillar Wallet provides a self-storage platform for users to store all of their tokens in one place and store their personal data in off-chain encrypted storage. With this wallet, users are able to own their data without any intermediaries. They pride themselves in not being like other apps which they claim trap your personal data.
Total investment: £15.01 million ($21M x .71 = £15.01M). Please see the spreadsheet for investment figure comparisons.
Digi.me allows users to "take control of the data powering [their] digital lives."
Services Offered: Digi.me offers a free app for mobile devices and computers that allows users to "import and use the data about [them] scattered around [their] apps and websites." The app then organizes the data and allows users to search every aspect to draw patterns about their lives. They pride themselves in having "bank and military grade security," meaning they do not have access to any user data, and only the user themselves has the key.
Total investment: £7.58 Million ($10.6M x .71 = £7.58M) Please see the spreadsheet for investment figure comparisons.
People.io provides a user interface that allows consumers to own their data and decide directly from there how they would like to use it.
Services offered: People.io provides a free mobile app that allows users to upload their data and decide if they want to "exchange [their] data and time for products and services." The company prides itself on providing consumers with rewards for sharing their data by "answering questions or engaging with brands". Rewards include Starbucks coffee, iTunes gift cards, Amazon gift cards, and more. However, they do also advertise absolute privacy and transparency of use for consumer data.
Ranked based on investment value, the top 3 UK companies for Personal Data Exchange, as measured by total investment/funding, are the Pillar Project, Digi.me and People.io.