Vaultree is a company that has developed the world’s first fully functional data-in-use encryption solution that solves the industry’s fundamental security issue: persistent data encryption, even in the event of a leak. Vaultree delivers real-time processing on encrypted data at unmatched speed and scale, seamlessly integrating into existing databases for enhanced efficiency, cost savings, and ROI. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Vaultree CEO and co-founder Ryan Lasmaili.
Ryan Lasmaili’s Background
Lasmaili is a math nerd at heart. And Lasmaili said:
“I’ve always been fascinated by technology breakthroughs, astrophysics, and economics. For the past 13 years, I’ve been involved with technology startups developing game-changing solutions to real-world problems, such as data privacy and protection.”
Formation Of Vaultree
How did the idea for Vaultree come together? Lasmaili shared:
“Vaultree was born in the fall of 2020 on a dairy farm in Ireland, upon a decade of research in the field and fine-tuning our algorithms, which are mathematically very complex. We started with a solid desire to democratize data security. With today’s technology, it should not be easy for criminals to find and misuse our personal information.”
“Nobody should have their sensitive data exposed and suffer the legal, financial and emotional consequences of it. That was a massive motivation for us. Once we were ready, we registered the headquarters in Cork and started working on our Seed round, which we closed in 2021.”
“Our founding team is very diverse. We all have different backgrounds, ranging from mathematics, software security engineering, and strategic tech marketing to business development. Building something from scratch with different perspectives and mindsets is quite unique and a strong value in Vaultree’s culture.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for Vaultree? Lasmaili reflected:
“I am in awe of our progress; it is challenging to name just one. These are exciting times for us. The announcement of our General Availability is a huge milestone for me and the team. The GA release was a big step to validate the product, drive awareness, expand, and positively impact the ROI. It was the moment we had been waiting for since the very first days, and I’m incredibly proud of what we’re doing. We are ready to pave the way to a new era of data protection, enabling organizations to work with the finest Data-In-Use encryption technology.”
Challenges Faced
What are some of the challenges you face in building the company? Lasmaili acknowledged:
“Founding a business can be challenging, and the startup scene is unique. Vaultree’s based in Cork and San Francisco, leading tech hubs and home to disruptive tech companies. We’re lucky to make connections and meet brilliant people. There are many ups and downs, but the learning opportunities are endless.”
“With so many cybersecurity solutions, none have solved the problem of plaintext exposure during data breaches and leaks. We did. And when you bring real innovation to the market, you have to prove yourself and educate the market. Fully Functional Data-In-Use Encryption (FFDUE) for enterprise adoption is possible with simplicity and ease, but many people still do not know or do not believe that. So we need to show them. And, when we do, people usually fall off their chairs.”
Core Products
What are Vaultree’s core products and features? Lasmaili explained:
“Our SDK is a user-friendly, simple-to-integrate, and easy-to-use fully scalable solution that enables organisations to benefit from Fully Functional Data-In-Use Encryption (FFDUE).”
“Our technology solves the limitations around processing fully encrypted data at scale with exceptional operational performance and unparalleled simplicity. It can be implemented in multiple scenarios, and machine learning is no exception. You can run AI/ML apps and train machine learning models on fully randomized encrypted data at scale.”
Evolution Of Vaultree’s Technology
How has Vaultree’s technology evolved since launching? Lasmaili noted:
“Regarding product development and partnerships, we’re working with reliability, flexibility and freedom to innovate. We’re committed to remaining at the forefront of data protection for our clients. As an official integration partner of Google with Google’s AlloyDB and Google Cloud SQL, customers can now use our technology in the cloud, which is a breakthrough in encryption standards to enable next-generation encryption and data protection.”
“Vaultree also recently announced an integration with Tableau that will revolutionize the way encrypted data is visualized and analyzed, in real time and at scale. This integration provides a new way for organizations to enable the power of encryption through end-to-end encrypted data analytics that protect user privacy, AI-powered data analysis on sensitive customer data, and secure data visualization that empowers organizations to achieve cross-functional visibility.”
“Another partnership with Qrypt has allowed us to expand our markets, incorporating Qrypt’s key generation with a one-time pad proxy tunnel to deliver everlasting key and data security in Vaultree’s SDK.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of Vaultree’s most significant milestones? Lasmaili cited the following:
“Closing a successful A series, the release of our SDK, the partnership with Google AlloyDB and Google Cloud SQL, being selected as the only Irish company to receive the European Innovation Council (EIC) grant, the Cybersecurity Excellence Award and others, and most recently Vaultree’s recognition as a 2023 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Every achievement, big or small, fulfills our daily mission to make data protection a human right.”
Customer Success Stories After asking Lasmaili about customer success stories, he highlighted:
“Our customers have been fantastic in supporting us to make encryption what encryption is supposed to be: secure, accessible, and easy to use.”
Funding
After asking Lasmaili about the company’s funding information, Lasmaili revealed:
“In December 2022, we closed a $12.8 million series A growth investment round, bringing Vaultree’s total funding to $20 million. Molten Ventures and Ten Eleven Ventures led the series A financing. SentinelOne, Elkstone Partners, CircleRock Capital, and Cyber Club London are also A-round backers. Additionally, we were the only Irish company to receive an accelerator grant from the European Innovation Council.”
Total Addressable Market
After asking Lasmaili about the company’s total addressable market, Lasmaili assessed:
“We focus on large financial, health, insurance, telecom, HR, and legal enterprises. However, any company storing sensitive data in a database is a potential target, especially in highly regulated industries like the U.S. and Europe.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates Vaultree from its competition? Lasmaili affirmed:
“We solve a fundamental security issue – persistent data encryption even if there’s a data breach.” ”There are technologies and tools out there trying to solve the problem of data exposed in plaintext during breaches and leaks from various angles, but there are many downsides to them:
- They are extremely complex, with many intermediaries, architecture, SQL syntax and code changes.
- They lower processing performance significantly.
- Or they are not secure due to missing cryptographic innovations.”
“Our proprietary encryption is smarter, quicker, and more efficient than anything before it. We’ve achieved a major cryptographic breakthrough with the first-of-its-kind software development kit that enables financial organizations of any type to benefit from Fully Functional Data-In-Use Encryption (FFDUE): it’s safe, scalable, easy to use, cost-efficient and has proven superior performance. The game changes when companies can forget about security versus performance issues and keep their data safe all time with two simple components, a database driver and a server-side library. All at scale, with compliance, speed, security and efficiency.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of Vaultree’s future company goals? Lasmaili concluded:
“We believe in cybersecurity (and encryption!) to achieve a safer digital future and make data privacy a human right. We’re aiming at customer acquisition spanning multiple industries and markets. With data breaches at an all-time high, accessibility, education, scalability, performance, and adaptability are all critical elements of cybersecurity. Data security is one of the most important topics today, and we’re leading the way to an encrypted tomorrow.”
“Furthermore, Vaultree believes that being able to access the Internet should be a fundamental human right. Along with that goes the idea that people should have the right to keep their data safe. With most of today’s data security solutions, users need to understand complex encryption functions and deal with multiple intermediaries to keep their data safe. To help put an end to this, Vaultree aims to democratize data security, putting it in everyone’s reach by making it simple to implement and use.”
