Skyflow Adds Generative AI Support to Its Data Privacy Tools

Skyflow, a data privacy startup, announced on Friday that it has expanded the number of markets in which it offers data residency support for companies that need to store certain information within certain boundaries. In today’s market, you probably can’t store customer data from the EU in, say, South America and vice versa, so companies need to take care that certain information stays at home in the market where it came from.

Skyflow started life as a tool to help companies store personal information or PII securely. Its API helps companies “manage all the complex privacy, encryption, and data challenges of storing PII and other forms of potentially radioactive data for their customers,” we wrote when we last covered the company.

The startup, which last closed a $45 million Series B in late 2021, can now support data residency requirements in Japan, India, Indonesia and Bahrain. Jobs, Skyflow CEO Anshu Sharma explained WND+ will allow software companies to offer their services in more markets and faster, while complying with local regulations regarding where data is stored and the secure storage of users’ personal information.

Sharma argued that his company’s recently expanded regional storage capabilities will help other companies avoid the hassle of deploying their own storage and security systems just to expand into new markets.

Skyflow’s work to support more regions wasn’t cheap. Sharma said the work had a “high fixed cost” that Skyflow could afford because it “raised a lot of money”, allowing it to “take over the infrastructure and operating costs” for its clients. (Besides, that’s what venture capital is for: building ahead of revenue in the hope of gaining huge market share.)

Considering that every tech company – both startup and large – wants to take advantage of every possible growth opportunity in the current slow market, you can see why Skyflow is expecting a return on its costs. If software companies continue to seek to expand into new markets to sell their services, they will have to handle a lot of data-related regulations and rules on their own. Or they can work with Skyflow or one of its competitors − EverVault, Protectionincluding to meet local requirements.

So far, Skyflow has found notable international recognition. Sharma told WND+ that more than 40% of his current business comes from non-US clients. The CEO was quick to point out, while reviewing the S-1 documents during our conversation, that some well-known software companies received a small portion of their revenue from international markets when they went public. It will be interesting to see if broader regional support lifts this figure above 50% over time; we’ll be back at the startup in a few blocks.

What is generative AI?

Skyflow initially focused on delivering its services to fintech and healthcare verticals. However, lately built version data storage services to support generative artificial intelligence services, so when we spoke with Sharma on the phone to discuss data residency, we also asked a few questions about the market demand for LLM-related software services.

Through a start-up, as he proposes to sit between corporate information and LLM. Image Credits: Skystream

First, we wanted to know if the startup created the tool because of a known demand or before the expected need. According to Sharma, his startup began receiving calls from customers a few months ago about generative AI and how these companies need to store not only personal data, but also internal sensitive data away from LLM. He said the demand comes from both bottom-up use of generative AI tools and executive-level curiosity. In other words, both corporate drones and corporate demigods alike want to use generative AI, but they don’t want to get in trouble for the data leaks we’ve already seen in the market.