The news: Strac, a software startup building tech that plugs into a company’s website or mobile app to secure sensitive customer data, raised $3.5 million.
The team: The Bellevue, Wash.-based startup was founded in 2021 by Aatish Mandelecha, a former principal engineer at Amazon, where he spent 11 years and helped build its payments infrastructure. The company’s founding engineers, Hans Hermans and Peter Hu, also worked for Amazon. Strac was part of Y Combinator’s Winter 2022 batch and has less than 10 employees.
The tech: Once a company installs Strac to its email or Slack channel, the software will automatically track down and redact potentially sensitive data on the platform, locking it away in a secure vault, Mandelecha told GeekWire in an email. He added that the tech will also provide analytics on how that sensitive info is being used in everyday workflows. Strac competes against similar data redaction offerings from Google, Amazon, and smaller companies.
The investors: Seattle venture firm FUSE led the round, with participation from Y Combinator, Liquid 2 Ventures, Wayfinder Ventures, Rogue Capital, Unshackled, and other industry angels.
