Transcend Inc., a startup that helps enterprises process their users’ data in a manner that complies with privacy regulations, has secured a $40 million funding round.

The company said in its announcement of the raise today that StepStone Group was the lead investor. HighlandX, Accel, Index Ventures, 01 Advisors (01A), Script Capital and South Park Commons chipped in as well. The Series B investment brings Transcend’s total outside funding to $90 million.

“This month marks the sixth anniversary of GDPR, and we’re in the middle of another wave of comprehensive legislation with the EU AI Act and a draft U.S. federal privacy law,” said Transcend Chief Executive Officer Ben Brook. “Yet privacy remains a fundamentally unsolved problem inside companies. Most have neither a clear view of their data, nor effective privacy controls installed directly into their systems.”

One of the most time-consuming chores involved in complying with privacy laws such as GDPR is the task of processing data subject requests, or DSRs. Those are requests in which users ask a company to delete the information it has collected about them or make that information available for download. Some companies receive upwards of hundreds of DSRS per year. 

One reason processing such requests can be time-intensive is that user data is often scattered across multiple systems. A retailer, for example, might store customers’ purchase history in one application and their credit card numbers in another. The more systems have to be updated when users ask that their information be deleted, the more work is involved in the task.

San Francisco-based Transcend has built a cloud service that it says can automate the process. When a user submits a DSR, the service finds the applications where the user’s data is stored without requiring any manual input. It then deletes the information or makes it available for download based on the contents of the request. 

The service allows companies to customize the DSR processing workflow according to their requirements. An enterprise can, for example, set up a mechanism that notifies its regulatory compliance team whenever users ask to delete their data. Transcend has also built safeguards for filtering malicious data download requests submitted by hackers.

The service is one of a dozen privacy management tools that the software maker provides. Another offering, Web Auditor, can scan the cookies and other user tracking technologies in a company’s website to check if they comply with data privacy laws. Additionally, Transcend offers tools that allow website visitors to customize their data collection preferences on a self-service basis.

One of the latest additions to the company’s product portfolio is a service called Pathfinder. Currently in private beta, it’s designed to help companies ensure that their large language models don’t generate harmful output. Pathfinder doubles as an analytics tool for tracking how users interact with LLMs.

Transcend says its tools are used by LG Electronics Inc., well-funded human resources software startup Rippling People Center Inc. and multiple Fortune 500 companies. The startup will use the proceeds from its newly announced Series B round to further grow its customer base. Additionally, the capital will help fund product development initiatives.

Image: Transcend