Australia-based data sharing platform Data Republic raised A$10.5m ($7.6m) today in a series A round that included airline Qantas, which participated through its customer loyalty and reward subsidiary, Qantas Loyalty.
Qantas Loyalty was joined by financial services firms National Australia Bank and Westpac, which invested through their respective venture capital vehicles, NAB Ventures and Westpac ReInventure Fund.
Founded in 2014, Data Republic has built a secure platform that allows governments, companies and non-profit organisations to share data with each other. The series A round will help fund its expansion in the US, planned for later this year.
In addition to its investment, Westpac has also partnered Data Republic on the formation of a ‘data banking’ service that enables businesses to store customer information on bank-level security infrastructure for analysis and exchange.
The round marks the first investments of both NAB Ventures and Qantas Loyalty. ReInventure Fund, a venture capital fund that counts Westpac as its sole sponsor, had previously provided an undisclosed amount of seed funding for the company.
Todd Forest, managing director of NAB Ventures, said: “Data Republic is doing some really innovative work to improve the personalisation experience for customers.
“This strategic equity partnership gives us a seat at the table to help develop Data Republic’s capabilities and ultimately improve the experience for NAB customers in the future.
“We know that banking is undergoing significant transformation in the digital space and the simple aim of NAB Ventures is to help ensure we can embrace the right changes to deliver new customer solutions.”