Tag Archives: julian ranger

Digi.me merges with Personal to create global personal data control powerhouse

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Digi.me and Personal are combining forces through a merger, bringing together the leading European and US companies in the emerging personal data ecosystem to provide a single integrated solution for consumers and businesses.

Both companies have pioneered innovative technologies to empower individuals to gain control over the growing amount of data and analytics about themselves that fuels the digital world. They directly address the challenge of enhancing privacy while increasing the ability of people to benefit from sharing and analysing data, including by apps on a mobile phone without the data ever having to leave the phone.

The combined business will be called digi.me, with its global HQ near London in the UK and the US operation based in Washington, DC. Personal’s enterprise solutions, known as TeamData, will be spun off as a separate information security and productivity company for businesses. The combined global workforce of over 60 people will continue to work for digi.me.

“We are excited to bring together the best of digi.me and Personal to accelerate the growth of our combined products and network of partners,” said Julian Ranger, Founder and Chairman of digi.me. “We have each built complementary infrastructure and products necessary for individuals to easily aggregate and share data whilst maintaining its security and privacy. It’s a win-win for individuals and for companies who embrace this model of transparency and trust.”

“Everything is powered by data today, but without clear benefit for the individual,” said Shane Green, Co-founder and CEO of Personal, who will serve as CEO of digi.me (US). “In a world of rapidly expanding artificial intelligence, analytics and personalised experiences, it is critical that we as individuals have the tools and rules to ensure our interests are also served by our data.”

Digi.me and Personal have raised over $45 million between them, attracting leading investors such as the Omidyar Network, SwissRe, Planetary Holdings, TCS Capital Management, Allen & Company, Revolution Ventures, Ted Leonsis and Esther Dyson.

Digi.me allows individuals to easily aggregate a broad and deep range of their social media data from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Flickr and other popular sources along with financial data from hundreds of sources in a secure library.

Companies and developers can then use digi.me’s APIs to request access to integrated data sets to provide better data-driven experiences, services, and rewards, and to provide other benefits like rich personal analytics. Health, wearable and music data will also be available soon after the merger. Current partners of digi.me include Swiss Re, Western Digital, Lenovo, Amgen, Dattaca Labs and FNAC.

Personal is focused on secure, collaborative creation and management of reusable data constantly needed by people at home and work to complete thousands of information-related tasks. It supports a multitude of data types from passwords, credit cards and IDs to detailed data for office and home use such as insurance, health and personal data of employees and family members. A free version of Personal’s TeamData app will be available for individual use following the merger and will be integrated into digi.me later this year.

The combined version of digi.me and Personal will allow seamless management of thousands of different types of both feed and manually-created data, supported by the industry’s leading structured data ontology and data normalisation technology. It will also allow secure sharing and far richer data-driven experiences between individuals and third party apps, and allow companies to reduce business and regulatory risks by requesting access directly from users.

“People assume there is a fundamental trade-off between sharing data and privacy, with Americans historically favouring sharing and Europeans favouring privacy” said Rory Donnelly, CEO of digi.me. “That no longer has to be the case when the individual controls much of the critical data about them and their lives. We are delivering the exact permission-based technology solution regulators and CEOs have been seeking.”

“There simply isn’t any way we can create this exciting, data-driven future without individual agency over data,” said CV Madhukar, Investment Partner at Omidyar Network. “Companies can use data to improve our lives, but their interests must be balanced with that of the individual: users must always have choice over who they reward with their trust and data.”

Find more information about digi.me, including the app, at https://www.digi.me, Teamdata is at https://teamdata.com/

Digi.me’s Julian Ranger elected to MEF global board

Announcements, Data Privacy, , ,

Julian Ranger, the founder and executive chairman of digi.me, has been elected to the global board of Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF).

Digi.me is already a full member of the global trade body, and Julian has been working closely with MEF as part of the Consumer Trust working group to enable businesses to successfully take advantage of the transition to personal ownership of data.

As part of this, he has contributed to a major submission to the EU’s Horizon 2020 funding which would allow MEF to undertake trials and research, as well as introduced MEF to potential strategic partners and promoted its work to key personal data innovators.

He said: “I am delighted and privileged to be elected to Global Board of MEF, where I will be particularly supporting the MEF’s Trust and Personal Data initiatives and helping to develop interoperability requirements.

“As privacy becomes ever more a focus, especially with new laws such as GDPR, there is a strong belief that this presents an opportunity to businesses that embrace change with Trust rather than being a bar on business.”

In his election submission, Julian promised to focus on ensuring that MEF’s Consumer Trust initiative develops as the ‘doers group’ vis-à-vis other industry efforts – delivering value to members whilst addressing industry imperatives around research, interoperability and new use cases.

He also looks forward to supporting the Executive with dedicated introductions and business ideas to identify investment and partners to support these crucial activities.

Pitch at Palace: vote for digi.me to win the People’s Choice Award!

Data Privacy, Using Digi Me, , ,

We’re one of 42 finalists competing for the People’s Choice Award in the Duke of York’s Pitch at Palace event, and we’d love your vote to try and help us win!

You can watch Julian’s pitch video and vote for us here – we’d really appreciate it.

Thank you in advance for helping to spread the word about our great app and plans for the future of personal data!

Digi.me featured on Entrepreneur

Data Privacy, , ,

Personal data and the lack of consumer trust and control over what is held by others is becoming one of the defining issues of our times.

And our founder and chairman Julian Ranger is now firmly established as an expert in how this can all be handled so much better than at present.

He is quoted extensively in this new Entrepreneur.com article looking at 4 Ways the Fight Over Data is Getting Way More Personal, which covers the fact Facebook effectively has a global monopoly as well as how new European regulation will change the face of personal data.

It also looks at how both technological advancements and public opinion are both challenging the status quo, with a focus on digi.me and its vision to bring back control to the user, putting them at the centre of their connected world in the Internet of Me.

It’s well worth reading in full, and is summed up by this very apt statement: “It will be exciting to see how entrepreneurs step into this space. In the same way that the Internet connected us in a way that few people could have imagined, returning data to its owners could change the Internet into a vastly different place yet again.”

Hurrah to that!

Digi.me through to finals of Pitch@Palace 6.0!

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Here at digi.me, we’re delighted to be able to tell you that we’re one of the finalists in the Duke of York’s Pitch@Palace 6.0.

Our founder and executive chairman, Julian Ranger, will attend Boot Camp at the Harwell Space Campus in Oxfordshire with the other finalists this Friday.

There, a panel of judges will choose up to 15 companies to actually pitch at the grand final, on November 2 at St James’s Palace in London, although all finalists will attend.

Excitingly, in addition to the main pitching spots, there is also a People’s Choice award up for grabs – and each finalist will make a one-minute video encouraging people to vote for them.

We look forward to sharing ours with you as soon as it’s ready (likely to be October 17) – so get those voting fingers ready!

Digi.me founder joins Kantara Initiative board to further global personal data vision

Announcements, Data Privacy, , ,

Julian Ranger, the founder and executive chairman of digi.me, has been invited to join the board of global identity experts Kantara Initiative.

As the personal data economy continues to grow apace, companies industry-wide are looking to Kantara to forge the best possible community framework to encourage sustained innovation and growth for all.

With its recent £5.3m Series A raise digi.me, which will also join the organisation, and Julian are expertly placed to add to and develop the innovation already present.

Kantara has made a name for itself as a hub for inventors, thinkers and innovators thanks to its can-do attitude and proven ability to construct solutions to complex data and privacy problems. This includes the Consent Receipt specification, designed to turn on its head the traditional business and consumer relationship and put the user back in control.

Digi.me also has a proven record in finding innovative technical solutions to personal data and privacy problems, and will imminently release a consented sharing Permission Access platform, which will allow users to gather together all their health and financial details and share them, if they wish, with businesses in exchange for personalised benefits.

Julian, the creator of STASYS’ iSMART process, the de facto standard for military communications interoperability worldwide, said: “Ecosystems grow faster when systems can interoperate and businesses are more likely to be used by other businesses if their solutions do not lock users in.

“As one of the most well funded personal data start-ups strongly committed to interoperability, which Kantara has a strong track record in, we are happy to do so on behalf of the whole ecosystem and not just digi.me. After all as the ecosystem grows, so will opportunities for us.”

“We are delighted to welcome Julian and digi.me on board,” said Allan Foster, president, Kantara Initiative.  “Julian’s expertise and experience will prove invaluable to Kantara’s mission to develop innovative initiatives to drive the digital identity transformation.  Personal data is an important element of this transformation.”

Colin Wallis, executive director, Kantara Initiative, added, “Everyone in the personal data arena knows that serious innovation is needed – and quickly.  We need to continue moving forward toward standards development, specifications and taxonomies – the fuel that will drive this new community. We look forward to Julian and digi.me helping make that happen.”

Julian will join a truly global board, with members from the US, Canada and Japan, over half of which reside outside the US.

 

SocialSafe Talks Personal Data At Internet World On 18th June

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This week sees thousands of marketing, IT and technology professionals uniting at the ExCel London for Internet World  – the flagship event of London Technology Week.

Over the course of three days, Internet World will bring together business leaders, IT specialists, developers, technical experts, digital marketing and business development professionals with leading technology innovators and solution providers. SocialSafe Founder, Julian Ranger, will be speaking at Internet World on Wednesday 18th June, as one of the entrepreneurs invited to take to stand in the Big Data in the Cloud Management Theatre.

Julian’s talk is called How Personal Data Changed, And What This Means For Businesses Looking Forward. He’ll be discussing how the way individuals create data about themselves, and the way in which it is stored, reused and shared has changed remarkably over the last two decades. His half hour session will also look at how this data should be managed to maximise the benefit for both individuals and businesses, while still maintaining absolute user privacy.

The lineup of other speakers across all stages and the full schedule can be found over at the official Internet World website, where you can also find all sorts of other great content relating to not only the conference, but also London Technology Week.

We hope that any of you attending Internet World are able to see Julian speak at 1500 on Wednesday in the Big Data in the Cloud Management Theatre, and we’d love to hear what you think of his presentation!

We Need Your Help To Send Julian Up Kilimanjaro!

Announcements, Fun, , , , , , , ,

We’re trying to spread the word about SocialSafe as far and wide as we can… So why not send our Founder up Kilimanjaro? Yes, you read that correctly. We’re looking to get Julian up the tallest mountain in Africa, and we need your help in achieving this goal.

Kilimanjaro trips

The Summit Kilimanjaro is organised by the same good folks behind The Summit Dublin – widely regarded as the most influential and international tech event in Europe – and the expedition will be taking place in September. Once again The Summit Kilimanjaro is partnering with charity: water and hopes to not just raise awareness of their incredible work by visiting their projects in Tanzania, but also to raise enough funding to bring clean water to 5,000 people in Africa. Three startup founders are being given the opportunity to be part of the trip, and then tell their stories from the Main Stage at The Summit in November.

So how can you help?

Well, Julian is into the final 200, but it’s now going to a public vote, so we’d really appreciate it if you could follow this link to The Summit Kilimanjaro and ‘Like’ the video. As you’ll see if you watch the clip (it’s only ~45 seconds), Julian has already traveled to each of the seven continents, and is even going to space with Virgin Galactic, but Kilimanjaro is something he has never attempted before.

Every vote counts, so please take a moment to like the video and help us get Julian out of the office for a few days! 😉

SocialSafe Reaches Final Of LeWeb ’13 Startup Competition

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It’s a great end to the week for us here at SocialSafe as we are thrilled to announce that we are one of just 16 companies that has been shortlisted for the LeWeb ’13 Startup Competition, and invited to participate in the live finals!

Over 700 companies from across the world entered for the chance to give their pitches to the panel of judges at the prestigious international conference held in Paris. We’re obviously delighted to have made it to the event itself, and can’t wait to get out on the continent next month to take part.

Julian Ranger - Founder & Chairman, SocialSafe

LeWeb is taking place between 10-12 December 2013 in Paris, and SocialSafe Founder and Chairman Julian Ranger will be delivering our pitch to the assembled panel of judges, with an eye on getting to the climax of the competition, which is giving another pitch on the Plenary I stage, which is open to all attending the conference.

We can’t reveal just yet what Julian will be talking about next month, but you can be sure that we’ll give you all the details as soon as we are able to. As well as Julian, we’ll also be sending a few more of the team over to Paris for the entire duration of LeWeb ’13 and you’ll be able to find us in the Startup Lounge between 10-12 December.

There will be plenty more details to follow in due course, but for now we just wanted to share this great news with you! We’ll be back next week with an update on what’s happening with the latest release of SocialSafe, but in the meantime we hope you all have a great weekend!!

SocialSafe Chairman Julian Ranger Talks ‘Life Logging’ With Gordon Bell And Robert Scoble

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Last week our Chairman, Julian Ranger , sat down with Gordon Bell and Robert Scoble to discuss life logging, and how SocialSafe can enable users to get their whole story, in an online world were we tell stories in a variety of different places.

Gordon Bell, Researcher Emeritus at Microsoft Research, pioneered the concept of life logging, and since 1999 has – among other endeavours – worked on MyLifeBits, an experiment in lifetime storage and a software research effort.  Robert Scoble is Startup Liaison Officer at Rackspace, but is perhaps best known for his blog, Scobleizer, which came to prominence during his tenure as a technical evangelist at Microsoft.

You can watch Julian’s interview with Robert and Gordon here in full:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbzRxf_JI60 align’center’]

We feel that taking ownership of your data is very important, but the ability to view and use the data from across a number of different social networks is where SocialSafe really excels, and we’re thrilled that Robert and Gordon agree with what we’re enabling our users to achieve with our app.

As Julian explains in the video, all data that a SocialSafe user backs up is downloaded directly from their social network accounts and then stored on their own machine. This makes using SocialSafe totally private, and gives users their whole story without having to share it with anyone else.

For more information about SocialSafe please visit our website, where you can also download the free trial.