Omnisient raises $1.4-million in second funding round

Cape Town-based startup Omnisient has announced the close of a second funding round at $1.4-million. 

The company – re-incorporated in 2019 by founders Jon Jacobson and Anton Grutzmacher – made the announcement yesterday. 

Re-investment reflects funder confidence

Ventureburn reported on the secure data platform’s initial investment round last year. The three original investors made their mark again, cementing their confidence in the platform while helping the startup achieve its global expansion goal. 

Secure data collaboration platform achieves second round of funding

Co-founder and CEO Jacobsen clarified: ”We have brought in visionary international investors – Technova, Grand Bay Ventures, Tahseen Consulting, and Kepple Africa Ventures – who will be key to supporting our expansion globally. Investec, Nedbank and Compass – Omnisient’s three original investors – led the round, reflecting their confidence in our ability to innovate and grow. The data economy is at the heart of the digital transformation that so many of our customers embraced a couple of years back and this has been accelerated by the global pandemic. We see a huge and largely unaddressed market opportunity,” he explained.

The investments go to expanding the Omnisient team, accelerating product development and driving international expansion. The aim is to focus on international expansion with the US, UK and the Middle East (ME) as key regions. 

“Omnisient has the potential to disrupt a global market. They have assembled a world-class team and are building a unique transformational data exchange and collaboration product,” said Shane Rogel of Grand Bay Ventures. “We are excited about the opportunity, in both SA and abroad, and have the utmost confidence in the team and their ability to deliver on their vision.” 

The platform ensures organisations derive meaningful insights from datasets without compromising personal information – a highly relevant solution in a market hungry for insights but focused on compliance. Customers benefit from increasingly tailored products and offers while organisations experience improved engagement.

“Companies are increasingly sophisticated in how they approach customer insights,” said CRO Grutzmacher. “They are also aware of the concerns that come with the use of this information and the need for compliance with global data privacy regulations such as the GDPR and POPIA.” 

Omnisient’s proprietary technology also allows organisations to collaborate with other entities to compare shared, de-identified customer assets without disclosing personal information. This concept – data virtualisation – allows companies to enable business intelligence (BI) and analytics teams to unpack new insights and target new audiences, all without physically sharing data.

“Omnisient has radically shifted how organisations innovate and grow their profits through data,” concludes Grutzmacher. “According to Gartner, organisations that promote data sharing are more likely to outperform their peers on most business value metrics, and this is something that companies all over the world are keen to achieve. With the Omnisient platform, companies can enable collaborative marketing opportunities, launch new ventures and redefine customer metrics without impacting on privacy or compliance mandates.”

Read more: Investec, Nedbank, Compass Venture Capital invest in SA startup Omnisient
Read more: Research identifies barriers to funding for early-stage social enterprises [Opinion]

Featured image: (Left) Omnisient co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer, Anton Grutzmacher. (Right) Omnisient co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Jon Jacobsen (Supplied)