Blog Post

June 4, 2022

Meet our Privacy, Security and Online Safety GovStart cohort

This month we kicked off our brand new GovStart programme - taking on a cohort of 34 startups across a number of different sectors. In this blog post we delve into the solutions of our 7 Privacy, Security and Online Safety startups spanning areas such as Disinformation detection, AI auditing and identity verification.

Online services have made it easy for people to communicate, work and access public services wherever they are. However, the ubiquity of internet services has also created challenges when it comes to ensuring users remain safe, secure and private when online. Governments around the world are grappling with the policy challenge of protecting users from these risks. Data privacy rules like GDPR or emerging regulatory regimes like that proposed in the Online Safety Bill are examples of legislative efforts to mitigate users’ risks, but it is technological solutions that - in many cases- offer the most immediate protections. 

PUBLIC’s Privacy, Security and Online Safety (PSOS) team have been working with Government and other public sector organisations on how technology can be used to protect users from risk for the past two years. Public sector organisations’ interest in technology in the PSOS domain is either rooted in ensuring that there are vibrant sectors of solutions that users and/or platforms can use to mitigate risk, or as they seek tools to execute on their responsibilities themselves.

The companies within the PSOS domain in this year’s GovStart programme seek to address these two needs. The solution they offer cover age assurance, privacy-preserving machine learning, cyber intelligence, identity verification, AI-driven content moderation, conflict and risk analysis, and AI auditing. Together they represent the type of dynamic innovations that are making inroads into solving the multi-faceted and complex challenges of improving privacy, security and online safety.

Privately - Privately's privacy preserving online safety and age assurance technologies help make games, apps, devices and web based services - safe and age appropriate.

Gradient Zero - Gradient Zero is a leading machine learning company and technology hub based in Vienna, Austria and Freiburg, Germany offering machine learning solutions across industries. Artificial Intelligence has matured into an established business and field of research. Still, successful AI projects need well-designed solutions with carefully selected techniques and a strong understanding of the underlying methodologies and their implementation requirements. AI is here to make things easier, faster and more comfortable – this is our mission.

Securium - Securium is a multi-award-winning cyber intelligence company providing online safety technologies to protect businesses and vulnerable individuals from online harm such as  child sexual abuse and misinformation. Securium provides fast, automatic, and cost-effective software tools for conversation and content analysis, to extract rapid insight from a large volume of data to allow clients to focus on identifying those who can do great harm, whilst reducing exposure to harmful content to protect the well-being of those who deal with such data.

Onfido - Onfido is a UK-headquartered global identity verification provider. Onfido partners with organisations across the world to remotely onboard users securely and swiftly, providing a best-in-class user experience. Onfido’s leading biometric and AI technology, coupled with human-in-the-loop oversight, enables clients to prove that their customers are who they claim to be, helping them to comply with regulatory obligations including AML and KYC requirements in the UK, EU and US.

Rewire - Rewire is a tech startup building socially responsible AI for online safety. Rewire helps platforms to protect their communities and users by finding and stopping toxic content with trustworthy, reliable and customisable AI.

ExTrac - ExTrac tracks violence and risk, on- and offline. A holistic platform for conflict and risk analysis, it brings together socio-economic data, curated streams of open-source (OS) conflict reports, and deep and dark web feeds maintained by groups such as Daesh, al-Qa’ida, and state-backed proxy organisations, using machine learning and artificial intelligence to provide unique and unparalleled insight.

Holistic AI - Holistic AI (HAI) are global leaders in AI Risk Management and Auditing. Catering for medium to large-sized enterprises that utilise algorithms and that seek to ensure their use is responsible and well-managed, HAI provides a Software-as-a-Service solution for organisations to monitor, control and de-risk their AI and data applications.

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James Katz

Senior Associate

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