Privacy Technology Provider TrustArc Acquires Nymity

San Francisco-based privacy technology provider TrustArc announced it acquired Toronto-based competitor Nymity for an undisclosed amount, in a press release on Nov. 19.

TrustArc was founded in 1997 as a nonprofit offering seals and certifications, transitioning to a privacy provider about a decade ago. In July of this year, TrustArc received a $70 million Series D investment led by Bregal Sagemount. Other TrustArc investors include Accel, Baseline Ventures, DAG Ventures, Icon Ventures, and Industry Ventures.

Nymity was founded in 2002 as a privacy law research company, eventually evolving into a software company offering privacy software solutions while retaining its research arm. Nymity's knowledge base aims to help customers comply with privacy laws across the globe. The company's president and founder, Terry McQuay, will remain with Nymity and focus on innovations and new solutions; the company expects to hire more developers and other employees in the Canadian and EU markets. 

Chris Babel, CEO of TrustArc, said that given the exploding rules and regulations on privacy—examples include the CCPA, GDPR, and LGPD, as well as U.S. state laws—combined with regulatory action, fines, pressure on vendors regarding their privacy practices, and complying with data subject access requests, that there is an incredible need in the marketplace for privacy solutions. Joining forces, the two companies' leaders say they can better meet their customers’ needs by operationalizing compliance using TrustArc’s technology paired with Nymity’s depth of knowledge.

Babel said the acquisitions is about creating “Generation 2 of everything that we’ve put together” and that he wants to “re-imagine privacy.” He stated that while today’s market is focused on privacy legislation compliance, the future will be about “helping businesses unleash the value of their data in a privacy-safe way.” Babel, who previously worked in security, compared the future of the privacy technology market to the security market's evolution from a decade ago: “Security started as compliance, but it is now about enablement. Privacy will follow that same evolution in the next 10 years.”

Disclaimer: Accel is an investor in G2.