Category: UNCATEGORIZED

The Sustainable Ocean Alliance and its Ocean Solutions Accelerator take on the problems facing our planet’s waters, and the latest cohort of companies in the latter show a fresh slate of issues to address and resources to utilize. From reef rehabilitation to a “Fitbit for fishing boats,” they’re trying to fix things up in the oceans or at least mitigate the damage we’re doing down there.

The accelerator’s four week, all-virtual (like all of them these days) program focuses on the unique challenges faced by social good companies in this space.

“Startups in the sector are still struggling to find adequate funding during the early phases of operations,” the accelerator’s co-founder Craig Dudenhoffer told TechCrunch in an email. “Many of the solutions (especially hardware) are costly to produce and take a heavy upfront cash investment. We found that out of the hundreds of applicants, only a fraction had received substantial investments. We believe more investors need to educate themselves on opportunities in the ocean sector.”

The SOA team selected nine companies for this wave, only three of which are U.S.-based. “This year, in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw our largest and most diverse applicant pool to date,” said Dudenhoffer in the release announcing the companies. “I was particularly encouraged by this year’s applicant pool to see the varying types of solutions, as well as an increase in the number of entrepreneurs that are actively building technologies to address the critical challenges that face the ocean.”

SOA founder Daniela Fernandez recently noted that their area of operation is especially international, so keeping things virtual actually opens up a lot of possibilities, especially for smaller companies that can’t afford to temporarily relocate. “It gives you so many options and makes it far more inclusive,” she told me. “Everybody just has more flexibility and tranquility. So I believe we were headed in that direction anyway.”

Image Credits: ARC Marine

Here are the nine lucky companies:

• AquaAI (Norway): Developed a fishlike autonomous underwater vehicle for unobtrusive observation and inspection
• AKUA (U.S.): Makes super-healthy kelp-based foods, starting with jerky and soon burgers
• ARC Marine (U.K.): Helps protect and rehabilitate reefs with sustainable ‘Reef Cube’ habitat and nursery
• Desolenator (The Netherlands): Solar-powered desalination for communities facing fresh water shortages
• FlyWire (U.S.): Digital catch monitoring for compliance with regulations and connected commerce
• microTERRA (Mexico): Sustainable, aquafarm-grown protein for animal feed
• Oceanworks (U.S.): Marketplace for recycled ocean-sourced plastic
• PlanetCare (Slovenia): Filter for catching microfibers in washing machine drains before they enter the water system
• Trademodo (Canada): New, comprehensive platform for ethical seafood businesses and supply chains

The companies will get the tender loving care lavished on all the new accelerator’s participants, but possibly also a bit of harsh reality as they learn the difficulties of being an ethics-focused company with long-term goals in a capitalist system that demands almost immediate returns. One of the most important steps in building one of these companies seems to be getting over this demoralizing hump and seeing the possibilities in spite of the difficulties.

A demo day is scheduled for November 5, which is good timing because probably nothing else will be happening around then.

On Thursday, October 1, a federal judge issued a temporary injunction that halted a presidential proclamation issued in June suspending the issuance of visas for some foreign workers until at least December 31, 2020.

The Trump administration asserted that the COVID-19 pandemic and its ensuing economic impacts made it necessary to impose a moratorium on issuing new green cards, but Judge Jeffrey S. White of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that:

There must be some measure of constraint on Presidential authority in the domestic sphere in order not to render the executive an entirely monarchical power in the immigration context, an area within clear legislative prerogative …

To explain how employers can respond to the judge’s order, TechCrunch columnist and Silicon Valley-based immigration lawyer Sophie Alcorn has written a supplemental column.

Extra Crunch members receive access to weekly “Dear Sophie” columns; use promo code ALCORN to purchase a one- or two-year subscription for 50% off.

Dear Sophie:

I just saw yesterday’s news that a judge issued a temporary injunction on the presidential proclamation that halted the issuance of H, L and J visas for individuals abroad, but that it only protects companies in the plaintiff organizations. We have several new hires waiting for visa interviews outside of the U.S. How can they now qualify to get visas to come to the U.S.?

— Supercharged in Sunnyvale

Dear Supercharged:

I’m thrilled that Judge Jeffrey S. White of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California temporarily halted President Trump’s June proclamation, which suspended the issuance of H, J, L and other temporary work visas to individuals abroad.

Judge White found that Trump overstepped his authority and exercised “monarchical power” by barring these work visas, adding that it’s in the public interest to uphold the power of Congress in determining immigration matters. The executive proclamation “completely disregards both the economic reality and the preexisting statutory framework,” the judge wrote, “without any consideration of the impact on American firms and their business planning.”

The judge issued his order in response to a lawsuit filed in July by business groups against the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department. The suit challenged the legality of the June proclamation, which suspended the issuance of H-1B and other temporary work visas — and corresponding dependent visas — at U.S. embassies and consulates.

The order requires U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), an agency within Homeland Security, and the State Department to resume processing and issuing the following visas to the plaintiff organizations that brought the lawsuit:

• H-1B visas for specialty occupations, which means if you have an approved H-1B petition from the March 2020 H-1B visa lottery, your H-1B visa beneficiary could proceed for an interview consular processing.
• H-2B visas for temporary nonagricultural workers.
• H-4 visas for the dependent spouse and children of H-1B and H-2B visa holders.
• J-1 visas for interns, trainees, teachers, camp counselors, au pairs or the summer work travel program.
• J-2 visas for the dependent spouse and children of J-1 visa holders.
• L-1 visas and Blanket L petitions for managers and executives or specialized knowledge workers.
• L-2 visas for the spouse and children of L-1 visa holders.

However, the preliminary injunction only applies to members of the plaintiff organizations. Therefore, it may be prudent for your company to seek membership in one of the following plaintiff organizations, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in order to seek inclusion in the protected group to qualify for visa interviews for your employees:

• National Association of Manufacturers
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce
• National Retail Federation
• TechNet
• Intrax Inc.

Judge White’s preliminary injunction remains in effect until a final ruling in the case — or an appeal of the case. An appeal appears likely given that last month in a separate case, Judge Amit P. Mehta of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia declined to halt both the June proclamation and one issued in April barring green card applicants from entering the U.S.

Also last week, another piece of welcome news affecting immigration came from Judge White: In a separate case, he blocked USCIS’s new fee rule that was slated to go into effect on Oct. 2, 2020. The new rule would have dramatically increased the fees for applying for many immigration and naturalization benefits, including visa and green card petitions.

I’m glad to hear that your visa candidates, particularly for H-1B visas, are only awaiting visa interviews at a U.S. embassy or consulate. That’s because USCIS is expected to issue a new rule shortly that is designed to further restrict the issuance of H-1B visas. The new rule is expected to narrow which jobs qualify for an H-1B specialty occupation visa, limit or even exclude H-1B beneficiaries working at a third-party worksite, and significantly increase the minimum wage rate for H-1B recipients.

Remember that travel restrictions remain in place that bar foreign nationals who have been in any of the following countries during the past 14 days from entering the U.S.:

• China
• Iran
• The European Schengen areas of Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City
• United Kingdom
• Republic of Ireland
• Brazil

We often recommend that any new hires consider traveling to a country not on this list for at least a 14-day layover before proceeding to the U.S.

Congrats and best wishes!

Sophie

Adding to the recent string of good news in immigration, the Department of Labor’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) recently announced it will now issue PERM labor certifications electronically to employers, which should result in faster notifications. Employers must file for a PERM labor certification if they sponsor an employee for either an EB-2 or an EB-3 green card. The OFLC must approve a PERM application before an employer can submit an EB-2 or EB-3 green card petition to USCIS.

Have a question? Ask it here. We reserve the right to edit your submission for clarity and/or space. The information provided in “Dear Sophie” is general information and not legal advice. For more information on the limitations of “Dear Sophie,” please view our full disclaimer here. You can contact Sophie directly at Alcorn Immigration Law.

Sophie’s podcast, Immigration Law for Tech Startups, is available on all major podcast platforms. If you’d like to be a guest, she’s accepting applications!

For Quantum cryptography and simulation to become real, the technology requires high-performance light-emitting and light-detecting components that operate at the single-photon level and at ambient temperature. One of the few companies operating in this rarified arena is Nu Quantum, the quantum photonics company, is a spin-out from the University of Cambridge.

It’s now raised a £2.1 million in Seed funding in a round led by Amadeus Capital Partners . Ahren Innovation Capital, IQ Capital, Cambridge Enterprise and Martlet Capital also followed-on from the company’s pre-Seed investment round last September, with Seraphim Capital joining as a new investor. Last year it raised a £650,000 pre-seed investment round, also led by Amadeus.

The funding will go towards a state-of-the-art photonics lab in Cambridge and a major recruitment drive for scientists, product team members and business functions as the company approaches the launch of its first commercial technology demonstration.

Nu Quantum brings together a portfolio of intellectual property combining quantum optics, semiconductor photonics, and information theory, spun out of the University of Cambridge after eight years of research at the Cavendish Laboratory. Nu Quantum is one of a handful of companies in the world developing this photonics technology.

The company’s first commercial deliverable will use quantum photonic technology and proprietary algorithms to generate random numbers extracted from quantum-level effects, giving the highest confidence in the quality of these numbers which are ubiquitously used as cryptographic keys to secure data. Nu Quantum is a partner in the consortium led by the National Physical Laboratory, developing the UK standard for quantum random number generation, a project which was awarded £2.8m from the UK government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. 

Dr Carmen Palacios-Berraquero, CEO, Nu Quantum, said in a statement: “Our aim is to enable the potential of quantum mechanics using quantum photonics hardware. This funding will allow us to do just that – a world-class multidisciplinary team and our new laboratories will give Nu Quantum the ability to deliver meaningful demonstrations of our technology into the hands of customers and partners for the first time.”

Alex van Someren, Managing Partner, Amadeus Capital Partners, said: 
“Quantum photonics has the potential to transform cybersecurity through digital cryptography. We’re making another investment in Nu Quantum because we believe in the team and its ability to take its solutions to market. Cambridge is leading the world on developing and commercializing quantum computing hardware and applications, and Amadeus is excited to be backing great entrepreneurs here.”

Nu Quantum is a partner in the consortium led by the National Physical Laboratory, developing the UK standard for quantum random number generation, a project which was awarded £2.8m from the UK government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

Predicting the future of technology for people with visual impairments is easier than you might think. In 2003, I wrote an article entitled “In the Palm of Your Hand” for the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness from the American Foundation for the Blind. The arrival of the iPhone was still four years away, but I was able to confidently predict the center of assistive technology shifting from the desktop PC to the smart phone. 

“A cell phone costing less than $100,” I wrote, “will be able to see for the person who can’t see, read for the person who can’t read, speak for the person who can’t speak, remember for the person who can’t remember, and guide the person who is lost.” Looking at the tech trends at the time, that transition was as inevitable as it might have seemed far-fetched.

We are at a similar point now, which is why I am excited to play a part of Sight Tech Global, a virtual event Dec. 2-3 that is convening the top technologists to discuss how AI and related technologies will usher in a new era of remarkable advances for accessibility and assistive tech, in particular for people who are blind or visually impaired.

To get to the future, let me turn to the past. I was walking around the German city of Speyer in the 1990s with pioneering blind assistive tech entrepreneur Joachim Frank. Joachim took me on a flight of fancy about what he really wanted from assistive technology, as opposed to what was then possible. He quickly highlighted three stories of how advanced tech could help him as he was walking down the street with me. 

• As I walk down the street, and walk by a supermarket, I do not want it to read all of the signs in the window. However, if one of the signs notes that kasseler kipchen (smoked porkchops, his favorite) are on sale, and the price is particularly good, I would like that whispered in my ear.
• And then, as a young woman approaches me walking in the opposite direction, I’d like to know if she’s wearing a wedding ring.
• Finally, I would like to know that someone has been following me for the last two blocks, that he is a known mugger, and that if I quicken my walking speed, go fifty meters ahead, turn right, and go another seventy meters, I will arrive at a police substation! 

Joachim blew my mind. In one short walk, he outlined a far bolder vision of what tech could do for him, without bogging down in the details. He wanted help with saving money, meeting new friends and keeping himself safe. He wanted abilities which not only equaled what people with normal vision had, but exceeded them. Above all, he wanted tools which knew him and his desires and needs. 

We are nearing the point where we can build Joachim’s dreams.  It won’t matter if the assistant whispers in your ear, or uses a direct neural implant to communicate. We will probably see both. But, the nexus of tech will move inside your head, and become a powerful instrument for equality of access. A new tech stack with perception as a service. Counter-measures to outsmart algorithmic discrimination. Tech personalization. Affordability. 

That experience will be built on an ever more application rich and readily available technology stack in the cloud. As all that gets cheaper and cheaper to access, product designers can create and experiment faster than ever. At first, it will be expensive, but not for long as adoption – probably by far more than simply disabled people – drives down price. I started my career in tech for the blind by introducing a reading machine that was a big deal because it halved the price of that technology to $5,000. Today even better OCR is a free app on any smartphone.

We could dive into more details of how we build Joachim’s dreams and meet the needs of millions of others of individuals with vision disabilities. But it will be far more interesting to explore with the world’s top experts at Sight Tech Global on Dec. 2-3 how those tech tools will become enabled In Your Head!

Registration is free and open to all. 

Jim Fruchterman a pioneering social good entrepreneur and founder of Benetech and Tech Matters.

Last October, Venmo announced it would launch its first credit card sometime in 2020. Today, the PayPal-owned company is making good on those promises with the debut of the Venmo Credit Card, initially rolling out to select customers. The Visa card offers 3% cash back on eligible purchases, personalized rewards, and tools to track and manage finances. However, what makes the card potentially appealing to Venmo’s younger user base is how the card is directly integrated into the Venmo mobile app.

Cardholders will be able to track their spending in real-time, organized by category, plus split and purchases, view their cash back status, make payments and manage their card directly in the Venmo mobile app. They can also opt in to receive real-time alerts when purchases and payments are made, much like other credit card and banking apps allow for today. And they can receive alerts when cash back is applied to their account.

Instead of offering a certain percentage in cash back rewards to all Venmo users by category, for example, or as Apple Card does by vendor, the new Venmo Card rewards system will be personalized.

Users can earn rewards from 8 different spending categories: Grocery, Bills & Utilities, Health & Beauty, Gas, Entertainment, Dining & Nightlife, Transportation, and Travel. Users will earn 3% back on their top spending category, 2% from the second highest category, then 1% on all other purchases.

That’s a competitive offering compared with other cash back cards given that the Venmo Card doesn’t include an annual fee. However, the card does charge other typical fees — like for cash advance, late and returned payments, and interest. Currently, the APR ranges from 15.25% to 24.24%, based on the account holder’s creditworthiness.

While Venmo doesn’t incentivize touchless purchases, as Apple Card does by paying out a higher percentage for Apple Pay transactions, it does come equipped with an RFID chip for tap to pay transactions at point-of-sale. This is not entirely contactless, but requires less contact than inserting the card into a chip reader which can often require the user to hold the terminal steady with their other hand so it doesn’t swivel.

The card also allows users to begin shopping virtually before their card arrives in the mail. And if the card becomes lost or stolen, it can be instantly disabled from within the Venmo app. Through Visa, the card includes Visa Traditional Credit Card benefits, as well as travel and lifestyle perks for Visa Signature cardholders.

Image Credits: Venmo

Given that personalized cards are in demand among millennial users, Venmo Cards are offered in 5 different colors and come emblazoned with the user’s own Venmo QR code on the front, making each card unique. This allows users to scan a friend’s card with the Venmo app when they want to send a payment or split a purchase.

Venmo already offers a Mastercard-branded debit card for its users — an offering it launched to target is millennial customer base, who tend to avoid credit cards as they’re worried about becoming trapped in the vicious credit-and-debt cycle. However, as many millennials are now finally starting to marry and buy their first homes, they’re coming to realize that establishing a credit history matters. But they may still shy away from big banks, preferring alternative credit products, like credit cards that work like debit or perhaps Venmo’s Card, as it’s tied to a money management app they already use and rely on.

Venmo in Q2 said it had over 60 million active accounts using its payments app — meaning those accounts who had completed a transaction within a 12-month timespan. It declined to say how many have since adopted its debit card. The company also reported $37 billion in Venmo payment volume. That’s a large and active user base that Venmo can upsell the new card to from its free, peer-to-peer payments app.

The Venmo Card is issued by Synchrony Bank, which is today known for powering a number of store cards, including those from Amazon, eBay, JCPenney, TJX, Stein Mart, American Eagle, Gap, Old Navy, Rooms to Go, Lowe’s and many others — around 100 cards, in total. The company has financed over $149 billion in sales and has 75.5 million active accounts.

At launch, Venmo is making the new card available to select customers via the Venmo mobile app. It says the card will be available to all in the U.S. in the months ahead.

With Disrupt happening last month I fell behind on watching accelerator demo days. It’s time to correct that oversight.

In September the Techstars network of startup accelerators held demo days for various classes of startups, grouped by either geographic location or focus. Kansas City, for example, or space.

The Exchange explores startups, markets and money. Read it every morning on Extra Crunch, or get The Exchange newsletter every Saturday.

With October now upon us, there’s another crop of Techstars demo days around the corner. To prevent falling further behind, let’s take a look at a few startups from Techstars’ September cohorts (and two from August) this morning to get primed for what the accelerator collective and venture fund will get up to this month.

To find five favorites to share today, I dug through startups from Techstars’ Kansas City Accelerator (full class here), its SportsTech Melbourne Accelerator (full class here), its Toronto Accelerator (full class here), and its Tel Aviv Accelerator (full class here). You can find TechCrunch coverage of Techstars’ two space accelerators here, and their full classes here and here.

Before we jump in, this month Techstars has classes graduating from another five accelerators, including groups from LA, NYC, Atlanta, and more. So, there will be no shortage of startups to look at in short order. With that, let’s get into some favorites from the the groups.

Favorites, standouts

We’ll start with the Kansas City accelerator. Kansas City, where my parents are from, incidentally, is a locale best known for its culinary magic and local musicians, not to mention a famous sports team or two. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Techstars also had a foothold in the city.

Techstars claims that it has “proven companies can scale big and in the process, raise more than $100M while located in the heart of America.” Well, then. What did the accelerator have on offer? A number of cool startups, happily. Oja Express is specialty grocery delivery, which was neat. It’s perhaps comparable to a Chowbus, but for groceries. MuukTest also stood out, as anything developer-tools related seems to be doing well these days.

But my favorite from the batch was YearOne, a startup that aims to provide companies access to diverse candidates from code schools. For any company looking to hire a more diverse engineering team, YearOne could prove incredibly useful.

Via the YearOne Techstars pitch

According to YearOne, 33,000 new code-school graduates will hit the market in 2020, a group that is around 150% as diverse as computer science graduates, or the current developer labor pool. The startup works with coding schools, vets candidates and supports them during their early time on the job. This makes their candidates “strong contributors on their way to mid-level engineering roles,” it claimed in its demo day pitch.

More diverse candidates for more companies? I dig it. YearOne charges $20,000 to companies for access to its developers which is nothing compared to most hiring budgets.

Turning to the Techstars SportsTech Melbourne Accelerator, what sort of startups were on offer during its demo day? A varied group, really. Some focus on helping you or I get better at our favorite activity (A-Champs), or focus on our mental well-being (Arete) or cognitive ability (

Vistaprint announced today that its parent company Cimpress has acquired freelance design marketplace 99designs.

The companies say that 99designs will become part of Vistaprint while also operating as a separate brand, with 99designs CEO Patrick Llewelyn continuing lead his team and reporting to Cimpress/Vistaprint CEO Robert Keane.

The acquisition announcement emphasizes the opportunity of connecting 99designs’ freelance designers with the 20 million small businesses who use Vistaprint to print signs, banners, business cards and other marketing materials — so they can their design and printing needs handled in one place.

Apparently Vistaprint has already been expanding into design services, with offerings that include a design service that businesses have used for to create custom face masks during the pandemic.

“The driving force behind Vistaprint’s future with 99designs is our passion to help small businesses,” Keane said in a statement. “We know how critical great design is for entrepreneurs on their journey. 99designs and Vistaprint have shared values and vision to be a trusted partner to business owners and creators, which lay the foundation for something bigger and more valuable than either of our teams could create alone.”

The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Cimpress is publicly-traded, while 99designs has remained private, despite Llewellyn’s plans to go public a couple of years ago. The design company was founded in 2008n and raised a total of $45 million from Accel and Recruit Strategic Partners.

TC Sessions: Mobility 2020, kicks off in full swing tomorrow! Don’t miss out on two full days devoted to the technology and people that make things fly, roll, haul or deliver. Today’s the last day you can save on the price of admission, which starts at just $25. Stop what you’re doing and go secure your ticket right now. All prices go up today at 11:59 p.m. (PT).

Got your pass? Let’s get this party started, shall we?

The conference features a ton (we measured) of experts and curated content. Learn from industry leaders across the mobility universe, keep an eye on trends, dig deep into specialty tech and interact with speakers and attendees from around the world. It’s all designed to help you expand your knowledge, your network and your business success.

Here’s a tiny taste of what you’ll find at TC Sessions: Mobility 2020. Look through the event agenda to make sure you don’t miss what matters most in your world.

The Changing Face of Delivery — Small startups and logistics giants alike are working on how to use automated vehicle technology and robotics for delivery. Matthew Johnson-Roberson, co-founder of Refraction AI, Ali Kashani, the VP of Special Projects at Postmates will talk about the challenges and opportunities of using robots for delivery.

Live Q&A: Investing in Mobility — Bring your questions to this live Q&A breakout session with Reilly Brennan, Amy Gu and Olaf Sakkers — some of the top investors in mobility.

Don’t miss the Mobility Pitch-off happening later today. Ten early-stage mobility startups will compete tonight in front of a panel of VCs, but only the top five will earn the right to pitch live from the main stage on Wednesday — it’s a must-see event!

Block out time in your day to explore the expo area. You’ll find 40 early-stage startups that span the mobility spectrum. Find new customers and partners, potential investments and employment opportunities — the possibilities are endless.

You time, however, is not. That’s where CrunchMatch saves the day. Our AI-powered networking platform makes finding, connecting and scheduling with people who align with your interests quick and easy. It’ll help you stay organized and on track.

“CrunchMatch, which is basically speed-dating for techies, was very helpful. I scheduled at least 10 short, precise meetings. I learned about startups in stealth mode, what big corporations were up to — things not yet picked up by the press. It was great, and I followed up on three or four of those connections.” — Jens Lehmann, technical lead and product manager, SAP.

TC Sessions: Mobility 2020 starts later on today but you have only a few hours left to save on passes. Buy your pass before the prices go up tonight at 11:59 p.m. (PT). Let’s get this party started.

Compliance automation isn’t exactly the most exciting topic, but security audits are big business and companies that aim to get a SOC 2, ISO 207001 or FedRamp certification can often spend six figures to get through the process with the help of an auditing service. Seattle-based Strike Graph, which is launching today and announcing a $3.9 million seed funding round, wants to automate as much of this process as possible.

The company’s funding round was led by Madrona Venture Group, with participation from Amplify.LA, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund and Green D Ventures.

Strike Graph co-founder and CEO Justin Beals tells me that the idea for the company came to him during his time as CTO at machine learning startup Koru (which had a bit of an odd exit last year). To get enterprise adoption for that service, the company had to get a SOC 2 security certification. “It was a real challenge, especially for a small company. In talking to my colleagues, I just recognized how much of a challenge it was across the board. And so when it was time for the next startup, I was just really curious,” he told me.

Image Credits: Strike Graph

Together with his co-founder Brian Bero, he incubated the idea at Madrona Venture Labs, where he spent some time as Entrepreneur in Residence after  Koru.

Beals argues that today’s process tends to be slow, inefficient and expensive. The idea behind Strike Graph, unsurprisingly, is to remove as many of these inefficiencies as is currently possible. The company itself, it is worth noting, doesn’t provide the actual audit service. Businesses will still need to hire an auditing service for that. But Beals also argues that the bulk of what companies are paying for today is pre-audit preparation.

“We do all that preparation work and preparing you and then, after your first audit, you have to go and renew every year. So there’s an important maintenance of that information.”

Image Credits: Strike Graph

When customers come to Strike Graph, they fill out a risk assessment. The company takes that and can then provide them with controls for how to improve their security posture — both to pass the audit and to secure their data. Beals also noted that soon, Strike Graph will be able to help businesses automate the collection of evidence for the audit (say your encryption settings) and can pull that in regularly. Certifications like SOC 2, after all, require companies to have ongoing security practices in place and get re-audited every 12 months. Automated evidence collection will launch in early 2021, once the team has built out the first set of its integrations to collect that data.

That’s also where the company, which mostly targets mid-size businesses, plans to spend a lot of its new funding. In addition, the company plans to focus on its marketing efforts, mostly around content marketing and educating its potential customers.

“Every company, big or small, that sells a software solution must address a broad set of compliance requirements in regards to security and privacy.  Obtaining the certifications can be a burdensome, opaque and expensive process.  Strike Graph is applying intelligent technology to this problem – they help the company identify the appropriate risks, enable the audit to run smoothly, and then automate the compliance and testing going forward,” said Hope Cochran, Managing Director at Madrona Venture Group. “These audits were a necessary pain when I was a CFO, and Strike Graph’s elegant solution brings together teams across the company to move the business forward faster.”