Data Republic is on a mission to build a cross-border data trading platform using the $22 million it has just raised in Series B funding.
The funding round was led by Singtel Innov8, the corporate venture capital fund of the Singtel Group with participation from other Singapore corporate giants such as Singapore Airlines and existing investor Qualgro. The round included participation from existing investors ANZ, Reinventure and Ryder Innovation Fund.
Data Republic co-founder Danny Gilligan told InnovationAus.com the funding would help grow its global expansion in markets that are building out data-driven economies, such as Singapore.
“What we hope is having a common infrastructure layer across two strong trading partners that we might be able to help develop the world first cross-border trading data framework,” Mr Gilligan said.
The involvement of Innov8 in this funding round is a telling sign that the Singaporean market is preparing to build out its emerging data economy, while balancing privacy regulations and innovation.
Singapore has the potential to serve as the introductory market for how other markets, including Australia, can develop their own data economy policies.
Danny Gilligan is a keynote speaker at the InnovationAus.com Dataconomy forum in Sydney on December 12. You can reserve your seat here.
“We have spent a lot of time with the Singaporean government over the last 18 months, and we do regard the top down thinking and strategy they’re building out a data economy is to be some of the best in the world,” Mr Gilligan said.
“They’re the most progressive in terms of getting that balance right between innovation and privacy.”
He added the platform has the potential to create new import and export market opportunities for Australian and international businesses.
“It’s about potentially unlocking products that don’t exist today. So, if you’re a customer of a bank in one market, how do you get approved to open an account electronically in another market,” Mr Gilligan said.
“Or, if you have a strong credit score in one market, how does that transfer when you move to a new country. Those are the problems that exist today where there are no solutions,” he said.
“If you have common infrastructure companies can develop algorithms and data products in the Australian market and can easily sell them to other markets that are adopting the same infrastructure. It will allow intellectual property algorithms move across borders rather than data moving across borders.”
Singtel Innov8 chief executive Edgar Hardless said: “Data intelligence gives businesses a competitive advantage, and data sharing is increasingly recognised as a critical way for enterprises to extend their breadth and depth of market insights.”
“Data Republic is helping to ensure that such data sharing is conducted in a safe, secure and compliant manner. Innov8 is excited to support Data Republic’s ambition to expand into Singapore and beyond,” said Mr Hardless.
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