The investment round is led by Sparking Capital with EUR225,000, as the main investor, while Enrico Perini contributes EUR100,000.
Sypher is the company that developed the GDPR virtual assistant – a software platform that helps companies in the GDPR compliance process.
Sypher was founded in 2017 by Cristian Badea and Mihai Ghita, both professionals with over 20 years of experience in the software and payments industry. Cristian Badea was a co-founder and CIO of Avangate, one of the most successful payment software companies, that was taken over by Francisco Partners in 2013. Previously, together with Mihai Ghita, Cristian Badea helped ePayment, one of the first online payment processors in Romania, to reach the top spot on the local market, an advantageous place for its acquisition by Naspers in 2010.
“We have chosen to invest in Sypher because we are already using the product and thus know its benefits. Direct interactions showed us the involvement and dedication of its creators, Mihai Ghita and Cristian Badea, and we are convinced that Sypher will make it to the top three over the next five years. We further seek to expand our investment portfolio and support people with vision, with teams dedicated to the activities they develop”, said Enrico Perini.
Sypher helps Data Protection Officers to collect and organize data through automation, gain an overview of progress and areas that need their attention, and manage the GDPR compliance analysis, documentation, and periodic review process, in order to avoid the risk of potential fines and negative publicity for their organization.
The company aims to further expand into the international market and its future plans include developing the platform with new features to address other aspects of GDPR compliance.
“We are currently active in the privacy management software market. Studies show that in Europe alone there are over 500,000 companies that have a DPO appointed and we estimate that over 70% of them don’t have a specialized software solution yet, therefore the growth potential is significant. Next year, we will also begin the transition to a much larger, growing market: governance, risk management and compliance software”, stated Mihai Ghita, co-founder of Sypher.
In the next 12 months, Sypher aims to triple the number of companies on the platform and attract new customers from Germany, France, United Kingdom, Central, and Eastern Europe. Currently, the platform is used by over 100 companies in Romania, France, Luxembourg, Poland, Bulgaria, and Hungary.