PVML, an Israeli startup that offers a platform for secure AI-powered data access, has had its coming out into the community of Startup Nation Israel with an $8 million Seed funding raise led by NFX. Oh, and the company was founded by a married couple too.
Two years ago Shachar Schnapp and Rina Galperin both quit their day jobs to establish PVML. Rina said she was working as a software engineer at a large corporation. She was part of a team building a product for virtual classrooms using people’s sensitive private data. Shachar, was completing his PhD in computer science specializing in Differential privacy at the time.
The couple both realized at the same time that there was a need for a new way to protect private information when analyzing data and that the way to do so was by using Differential Privacy.
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Differential privacy (DP) is a specific approach within AI-powered data access that focuses on balancing data utility with individual privacy. DP allows us to extract useful statistical information (like average income) from a dataset while mathematically guaranteeing that no single individual’s data can be identified or inferred from the results. It achieves this by adding carefully calibrated noise to the data before analysis. This noise is like a mask that hides individual details but allows general trends to emerge.
DP provides a quantifiable level of privacy protection, unlike anonymization techniques that can be vulnerable to re-identification attacks and with it organizations can collaborate on data analysis or release public datasets without compromising individual privacy.
Founded in 2021 by CEO Shachar Schnapp and CTO Rina Galperin, PVML shifts the paradigm of data anonymization by combining our game-changing data protection technology with AI.PVML was started after its founders repeatedly observed how existing data access solutions were hindering innovation, creating costly bottlenecks at the companies we were working at, slowing down time to insight, time to collaboration between business units or external partners, and introducing data privacy risks.
“We believe that people are the most important factor in the success of any goal that requires collaboration, innovation and courage,” said PVML co-founder Rina Galperin. “Our goal definitely required all three and more, so we knew we needed no less than a super-star team of engineers and researchers by our side. We reached out to our most talented former colleagues and friends from university, inviting them to join our crazy journey. The response was overwhelming – leading technological minds from giant corporates to fast-growing startups came on board. Each bringing their unique talents and strengths, we’ve assembled an exceptional team, poised to pave the way for groundbreaking accomplishments at PVML.”