Sequoia is a venture capital focused on energy, financial, enterprise, healthcare, internet, and mobile startups. The firm helps a small number of daring founders build legendary companies. It spurs them to push the boundaries of what’s possible. The firm seeks to invest in all sectors with a focus on energy, financials and financial services, healthcare and healthcare services, Internet, mobile, outsourcing, and technology.

Sequoia Capital

SV Angel is a service organization, investing in founders who share these values. They support entrepreneurs in building lasting companies by assisting at key inflection points and leveraging networks to help them propel their businesses forward.

SV Angel

Ballistic Ventures operates as a venture capital firm and offers the unparalleled benefit of an experienced, connected team that is focused on cybersecurity. They believe the essential step they can take today is to provide collective experience, network, and enthusiasm to the world's finest cybersecurity entrepreneurs.

Ballistic Ventures

Skiff

Skiff operates an end-to-end encrypted document collaboration platform meant to establish a private and decentralized workspace. The company's platform offers decentralized storage with complete privacy to the modern workspace, allowing teams worldwide to share information securely and privately, as well as monitoring activity to prevent unintended use, allowing organizations to write, edit, and collaborate in real-time with colleagues in complete privacy.

Skiff is an end-to-end encrypted document editing platform similar to Google Docs. The platform provides users with secure workspaces to collaborate in real time. Skiff is used by journalists, research scientists, and human resource lawyers. Skiff focuses on decentralization, to enable users to have greater ownership over their data. Skiff has partnered with Protocol Labs to incorporate Interplanetary File System (IPFS), a protocol and a peer-to-peer network that allows Skiff to encrypt documents and store them in a decentralized network of storage hosts. Skiff also integrates with MetaMask, to enable users to log in to Skiff using a portable crypto wallet instead of an email address. The platform has over 20,000 users, as of March 2022.

The tools that power remote work are define the next generation of enterprise software.

Remote Work Tools

Skiff provides an end-to-end encrypted platform that facilitates private collaboration, email, and messaging. The platform ensures that the title, content, and description of users’ documents remain completely obscured and provides users with full control over their own data. Skiff also provides decentralized storage called Interplanetary File System (IPFS), in partnership with Protocol Labs, to allow users to store and share data in a distributed file system. Decentralized and self-managed identities, such as an Ethereum wallet, can be used to sign into Skiff, instead of using an email address, for completely anonymized document sharing across a network of potential hosts.

New data privacy regulations have opened up space for a new wave of compliance-focused startups.

Digital Privacy Tools

Encrypted email service Skiff gets acquired, will shut down in six months

Skiff is an end-to-end encrypted document editing platform similar to Google Docs. The platform provides users with secure workspaces to collaborate in real time. Skiff is used by journalists, research scientists, and human resource lawyers. Skiff focuses on decentralization, to enable users to have greater ownership over their data. Skiff has partnered with Protocol Labs to incorporate Interplanetary File System (IPFS), a protocol and a peer-to-peer network that allows Skiff to encrypt documents and store them in a decentralized network of storage hosts. Skiff also integrates with MetaMask, to enable users to log in to Skiff using a portable crypto wallet instead of an email address. The platform has over 20,000 users, as of March 2022.In its latest funding round ( <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9486">March 2022 </a>), Skiff raised USD 10.5 million in funding led by Sequoia Capital. The round followed its seed funding round in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/964">May 2021 </a>. The fresh funds will be used to build out its platform and launch new products, such as communication tools that rely on end-to-end encryption.

Hive is a productivity platform for project management and collaboration. The platform provides automated workflows, project planning layouts, and action templates to assign and keep track of project tasks. Hive focuses on improving task execution with instant feedback cycles for editing and approvals. Additional features include note taking (Hive Note), instant messaging, online meetings, and file sharing.Hive offers a variety of ways for teams to organize their projects, including Gantt charts, Kanban boards, tables, and calendars, with updates made in one view automatically reflected in all others. The platform allows team members to create action cards with files, sub-actions, dependencies, and comments to stay on top of their objectives, and have access to a personal to-do list that compiles all assigned tasks from all projects. Managers can use Hive to assign approvals, share proofs, provide feedback, and collect project forms from clients and customers. Hive also uses AI and machine learning to provide insights on team productivity and identify potential risks, and to optimize resource allocation and client billing.Key customers and partnershipsThe company’s customer base includes Google, Toyota, Comcast, and Starbucks. Hive offers integrations with over 1,000 SaaS platforms, including Asana, Trello, Basecamp, and Smartsheet, allowing users to import tasks from these platforms.Funding and financialsIn <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/5208">August 2021</a>, Hive raised USD 10 million in a funding round led by Rembrandt Venture Partners with participation from Zoom, and existing investors Tribeca Venture Partners and Angelpad. Hive is one of the first startups to receive an investment from Zoom’s “Zoom Apps Fund” (a USD 100 million global venture fund). The fresh funds were allocated toward platform development.&nbsp;

Hive

Grain’s software allows users to record, highlight, transcribe, and share online meeting content from tools such as Zoom in an effective manner. It automatically records and transcribes meetings, allowing users to create shareable video clips from highlighted transcript sections. Grain leverages AI to generate customizable meeting notes and answer questions about the transcript. It supports coaching and collaboration through comments and training content creation. The platform offers deal analytics and insights, tracking key account activities and integrating with tools like HubSpot, Salesforce, Zapier, and Slack. &nbsp;The company’s products focus on distributed teams, sales, product and user research, and hiring teams.In April 2022, the company acquired Ping Pong, a video messaging platform.Funding and financialsIn <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9759">April 2022</a>, Grain raised USD 16 million in Series A funding led by Tiger Global Management. The funds were raised to expand operations and develop its ​​video meeting system of record for content, which allows employees to collaborate around insights, topics, relationships, or teams.

Grain

Air is a creative operations platform designed for creative teams to streamline their workflows and collaborate more effectively. It offers a comprehensive solution that goes beyond basic cloud storage systems, catering specifically to the needs of the creative process. Air allows users to collect content, approve assets, share versions for feedback, and organize their work seamlessly, eliminating the need for additional organizational efforts.Air provides a centralized hub for content collaboration, approval, and versioning. Air's technology streamlines various aspects of the creative workflow, including content collection, asset approval, version control, and feedback sharing. Unlike traditional cloud storage solutions, Air's platform is tailored to the specific requirements of creative teams, enabling them to work more efficiently and effectively.Key customers and PartnershipsThe company’s customer base includes notable firms such as Native, Together, Spindrift, and Univision.&nbsp;Funding and financialsIn <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8139">January 2022</a>, Air raised USD 10 million in an “Operator Round” led by Headline with participation from Tiger Global, Lere Hippeau, and 50+ strategic founders and marketing executives including Peter Rahal (Co-Founder, RXBAR), Kipp Bodnar (CMO, HubSpot), and Joe Thomas (CEO, Loom), valuing the company at USD 110 million. The funds were used to accelerate Air’s go-to-market activities and growth.

Acapela was co-founded by Roland Grenke, founder of Dubsmash, a video sharing social media app. Acapela facilitates online meetings without real-time interaction between participants; instead, members contribute to meetings over time.Acapela provides voice and video messages integrated with popular productivity tools such as Asana, Google Workspace, Notion, and Atlassian. Additionally, meetings will generate tasks and meeting summaries automatically. The company identified distributed tech teams as its initial target segment and plans to shift focus toward small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and larger enterprises eventually. The product is currently in invite-only beta.In October 2020, the company exited stealth mode with a USD 3 million seed funding round led by Visionaries Club. The round included Entrepreneur First and other notable individual investors, such as Christian Reber (founder of presentation software Pitch) and Taavet Hinrikus (founder of online money transfer service TransferWise).

Acapela

iObeya is a cloud-based enterprise visual management platform that enables organizations to digitize their Lean, Agile, and Industry 4.0 practices. The platform provides virtual "Oobeyas" (Japanese for "big room"), which are digital collaborative workspaces where teams can align, synchronize, and visualize their work using digital boards, sticky notes, and other visual tools. iObeya's platform allows teams to recreate the in-person experience of paper-based visual management practices with real-time collaboration, enhancing team efficiency, creativity, and problem-solving.iObeya's technology supports a wide range of enterprise use cases, including industrial product lifecycle management, manufacturing operational excellence, product development, and continuous improvement for business performance and agility. It integrates with various systems like ERP, MES, BI, and Application lifecycle Management (ALM) tools such as Atlassian Jira and Microsoft Azure DevOps Server.Key customers and partnershipsiObeya's customer base includes global enterprises such as Airbus, Thales, Volvo, Philips, Cartier, Axa, Eli Lilly and Company, Western Digital, General Electric, Kimberly-Clark, Danaher, and Sanofi.Funding and FinancialsIn July 2020, iObeya raised USD 17 million in a series A funding round led by Red River West with participation from Atlantic Bridge Capital and Fortino Capital Partners. The funds were allocated to develop its platform further and accelerate the company’s expansion in the US.

iObeya

Platforms that provide virtual workspaces using spatial technology to combine a variety of productivity and collaboration tools in a single space.

Platforms that provide standalone presentation software, prototyping and web development software, templates, and design workspaces.

Platforms that facilitate task delegation and tracking with board, timeline, and kanban style views.

Platforms that provide standalone video communication tools and complementary products such as interactive interfaces, presentation features, and transcription software.

Platforms that offer chat and email-based collaborative tools.

Solutions in this industry hub are predominantly offered under a B2B SaaS model

Some solutions in the virtual office and video conferencing segments are based on AR/VR

Facilitates hybrid workforces by offering tools for employees to collaborate regardless of location

Meeting transcription and note-taking apps, design, and project management tools use AI/ML for product development

Skiff provides an end-to-end encrypted platform that facilitates private collaboration, email, and messaging. The platform ensures that the title, content, and description of users’ documents remain completely obscured and provides users with full control over their own data. Skiff also provides decentralized storage called Interplanetary File System (IPFS), in partnership with Protocol Labs, to allow users to store and share data in a distributed file system. Decentralized and self-managed identities, such as an Ethereum wallet, can be used to sign into Skiff, instead of using an email address, for completely anonymized document sharing across a network of potential hosts.As of March 2022, Skiff served more than 20,000 users, which was nearly a 2x increase from the 8,000 waitlisted users reported in May 2021. The company has a global employee headcount of 15. The company offers its platform under a subscription model for USD 8 per month with up to 100GB storage and includes a free basic plan with limited features.In March 2022, the company <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9503?industryIds=34">raised USD 10.5 million </a>in a Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital. The funding was expected to be utilized to build out its platform.

OneTrust provides compliance solutions that leverage AI tools and automation across all areas of privacy compliance. The company’s AI-powered solution sees widespread use, providing automation in the areas of data discovery, data subject rights management, consent management (with a user-facing preference center for greater control), data protection impact assessments, third-party risk management, incident response reporting, and monitoring.The company also provides regulatory research software that companies can use to train staff and even benchmark their own privacy programs. The company’s Government Records Request Automation solution helps government organizations intake requests, automate data discovery and redaction, and provide a secure two-way communication portal that demonstrates compliance with FOIA, PRR, and the Privacy Act. OneTrust’s products were backed by over 200 patents as of September 2024.OneTrust has strengthened its position in the digital privacy space through several acquisitions in recent years. In March 2021, OneTrust acquired DocuVision, an AI-powered data redaction platform to bolster its data subject rights capabilities through automatic redaction of non-relevant sensitive information. During the same month, OneTrust acquired Convercent to enhance its platform through advanced ethics and compliance capabilities, and helpline and disclosure management. OneTrust acquired the security assurance and certification platform Tugboat Logic in September 2021, to automate its InfoSec assurance and certification processes. Other notable acquisitions include Privacy Core e-learning, DataGuidance, and Integris Software.In March 2023, OneTrust announced the addition of certification automation to the OneTrust GRC and Security Assurance Cloud. This solution which combines automation, pre-built policies and controls spanning 29 industry frameworks, over 100 integrations, compliance content, and expert guidance enables customers to simplify and streamline compliance tasks according to OneTrust.Key customers and partnershipsAs of September 2024, OneTrust said it served over 14,000 active customers, including 75 of the Fortune 100. The company claims it serves notable organizations from all industries, with Adobe, Walgreens, Samsung, and Mearsk among its customer base.OneTrust entered a partnership with Dow Jones Risk and Compliance in April 2023, to incorporate risk and compliance data into its third-party due diligence solution.

OneTrust

CENTRL provides automated risk management and privacy management solutions. Through its Privacy360 platform, the company provides solutions to identify compliance gaps, automate data discovery, manage data subject rights requests, consent management (with a user-facing preference center), carry out impact assessments, third-party risk management, monitoring, and reporting.

CENTRL

HighSide provides a secure communications platform for organizations, enterprise archiving solutions, data discovery, and supervision tools in compliance with GDPR, CCPA, etc. In 2019, the company announced the acquisition of Hotshot Technologies, a secure team messaging platform.

HighSide

SecuPI provides a patented platform enabling organizations to achieve compliance with regulations such as GDPR and CCPA. The platform achieves this by providing multiple features to protect data such as pseudonymization, consent controls, audit logs, streamlining breach notifications, etc. SecuPI’s platform is deployed in organizations in the banking, insurance, telecommunications, and health industries.

SecuPi

JoinPrivacy is a B2C solution that allows users to manage their personal data from the websites they use, all from one place.

JoinPrivacy

Solutions to prevent the tracking and collection of the personal data of end-users.

Encrypted communications and data exchanges for internal and external collaboration around sensitive data.

Tools to provide compliance with privacy regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA, and carry out tasks such as data discovery, data governance, consent management, Data Subject Rights (DSR) management, Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA) and managing incident response as mandated by these privacy regulations.

Synthetic data generation, data de-identification and anonymization, and other solutions for managing sensitive data.

Storage infrastructure for holding data in compliance with regulations such as GDPR or data residency requirements.

Central management of data access and data privacy and security policies.

Uses AI/ML to automate workflows such as data discovery and data classification

Uses generative AI to provide conversational recommendations to users to remain compliant with privacy regulations

Solutions in this industry hub are offered under a B2B SaaS model

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 The productivity suite company, Notion, has purchased Skiff, a platform that offers end-to-end encrypted file storage, documents, calendar events, and email.
 Founded by Andrew Milich and Jason Ginsberg in 2020, Skiff served as a secure document collaboration alternative to Google Docs. It also expanded to include productivity solutions such as a calendar and email service. Before being acquired by Notion, Skiff had raised a total of USD 14.2 million through two investment rounds.
 Following the acquisition, Skiff plans to terminate its product offerings in the next six months. Notion will not be transitioning Skiff accounts, allowing users to seamlessly move their data to other services. This merger is anticipated to strengthen Notion's focus on privacy, given Skiff's capacity to offer encrypted solutions.
 
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Skiff

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