The following is an excerpt from IAPP's The Privacy Advisor article, "Osano acquires WireWheel" by Alex LaCasse:
In the privacy technology vendor marketplace, the last year-plus has been marred by the unavailability of investor funds. Prior years saw venture capital money flow generously to numerous privacy tech startups aiming to streamline prospective customers' compliance efforts.
One company that is seemingly bucking the current trend is Austin, Texas-based Osano, a data privacy and compliance solutions developer for small and medium-sized businesses. On top of securing USD25 million in Series B funding in August, Osano made another investment wave in the vendor space 5 Dec. by acquiring fellow vendor WireWheel for an undisclosed sum.
Osano co-founder and CEO Arlo Gilbert said the acquisition allows Osano to expand its offerings to cater to large enterprise customers and compete for a larger share of the privacy program management market.
"As part of the (August) fundraise, one of our big goals is to start moving up market into larger businesses," Gilbert told the IAPP. At the time of the August funding round, Gilbert said the goal with fresh capital was to used to expand several departments and grow its research and development. "Our goal for the next year-and-half-to-two years really is to start marching up market into larger enterprises who have more complex requirements and who also have more complex problems to deal with. So, the acquisition of WireWheel just made a lot of sense for us."