D-ID, an Israeli tech startup, has raised over $13.5 million in a Series A funding round that reportedly closed last month. The funding was led by AXA Venture Partners with the participation of Y-Combinator, AI Alliance, Hyundai Motor Company, Pitango Venture Capital, OMRON Ventures, Maverick Ventures, Mindset Ventures and Redds Capital. In early 2018, D-ID closed on a seed round of $4 million.
D-ID (think De-identification) offers a service that provides privacy solutions to enterprises that record or photograph individuals like financial services firms. The company states that its proprietary software removes key biometric data from pictures and videos while preserving key attributes such as age, gender, and emotion. D-ID’s photoprotection and video anonymization solutions ensure the privacy of individuals caught on film or camera and allows organizations to store the media without risking heavy fines in a world of rising privacy concerns and newer rules such as GDPR.
D-ID points to examples in the automotive sector, driver monitoring systems that capture drivers’ faces. Or medical facilities that need to be mindful of higher privacy standards. Smart cities, media, and entertainment ventures, and CCTVs are capturing and storing video footage at an unprecedented level. Your face is quickly becoming the preferred form of identification everywhere.
Sella Blondheim, COO and co-founder at D-ID, said the funding during a period of economic uncertainty highlights the need for their solution:
“The convergence of increased surveillance and individual privacy protection places enterprises in a position where they must either anonymize their stored footage or risk violating privacy laws and face costly penalties.”
Manish Agarwal, General Partner at AXA Venture Partners, said that visual data is being increasingly utilized by companies and services:
“We have been impressed by the quality of the team at D-ID, and they have created a product to safeguard that biometric data, which will go a long way in protecting these companies across the globe.”
D-ID was created by Gil Perry, Sella Blondheim, and Eliran Kuta, veterans of Israel’s elite 8200 intelligence units.