Cork-based data security company Getvisibility is set to ramp up its global expansion as it opens a new office in San Francisco and plans to expand employee numbers.
The company, which was founded in 2018 by Ronan Murphy and Mark Brosnan as a spin-out from cybersecurity company Smarttech247, uses artificial intelligence to discover, classify and protect unstructured data typically contained in PDFs, spreadsheets and text documents, helping organisations to better understand their data footprint and ensure more proactive management and security.
The San Francisco office builds on the company’s established presence in Ireland and the UK. Recently appointed chief operating officer Jacinta Tobin will lead the US operations, with several major contracts already signed with large enterprises across highly regulated industries such as finance, defence, pharma, biotech, automotive and manufacturing.
Data scientists
Getvisibility has raised over €13 million to date, including a €10 million Series A funding round in March. Its workforce has grown significantly in the past 18 months as the company took on engineers and data scientists.
The company is also planning a hiring push in the next 12 months, adding data security architects, engineers, data quality assurance managers, data scientists and project managers, with roles available in the US and the Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.
“When you consider that IBM reports the average cost of a data breach in the US as being $9.44 million, action is clearly needed. To meet this growing demand in the US and across the other markets in which we operate – including Ireland and the UK – we are investing in our team, offering and presence,” Ms Tobin said. “Underpinned by the right expertise through our personnel and partnerships with industry leaders, we will be at the heart of a new era in data management and security. Not only does this help our customers to successfully manage unstructured data, it enables us to drive our own success as a business.”
The expansion was welcomed by Enterprise Ireland. “Getvisibility’s advanced AI solution for data security and compliance is uniquely suited to meet the requirements of US businesses,” said Killian McMahon, head of US West Coast for the organisation. “Enterprise Ireland is proud to support the company’s growth in the region.”
