The early beginnings of Datafy.it
Datafy.it began operations in 2012, during the height of the economic crisis in Europe. At the time the majority of EU companies were focused on internal markets, which was all the more true in smaller countries with weaker economies. If companies wanted to survive, they were forced to search for new business outside their own borders, and in doing so they were faced with a key challenge: how to find new potential customers in markets they knew so little about.
At its base, business is about human to human relationships. This is why Datafy.it was created: to help companies connect, to reach out and talk to their potential customers and partners, wherever they are in the world. Our first product was a web application — a search engine for businesses, where users could search companies by position, industry and country.
Now, fast forward a few years. We’ve added many new services and strong partnerships with more than 700 customers around the world, from the EU, the US and Asia.
Our growth did not go unnoticed. In July 2017, we closed a seed investment round with investors from EBAN (European Business Angels Network), who come from 6 countries: Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Slovenia, Hungary and Hong Kong.
During this time we’ve seen and experienced first-hand how the data business is transforming and becoming a driving force of the global economy, the so-called oil of 21st century. In just the past couple of years, we’ve seen that another key paradigm has also changed: we, the people, have become aware of how our data can be used for both good and bad ends.
This major shift has become even more real with the introduction of GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) legislation. Even though GDPR is a European initiative, it introduces the logic and legal standard that personal data is an asset and a personal right of every individual. Everyone should be in total control how their personal data is collected, managed and used.
Meanwhile, almost in parallel with this shift in perceptions of personal data, Blockchain technology has developed and been introduced on a global scale. Blockchain supports the GDPR legislation in key aspects, namely, by providing transparency, a clear audit trail and decentralization, which effectively blocks any kind of data tampering.
Considering the new and quickly changing business landscape, the path forward for Datafy.it is obvious. Thanks to our existing business and specialised expertise, no company is better positioned to seamlessly merge people, personal data, legislative requirements (GDPR) and new, emerging Blockchain technology.
Our strong customer base, extensive international partnerships, global industry experience and compliancy know-how puts the Datafy.network ICO in the best possible position to succeed, not only by raising investment capital, but also by achieving our vision that there should be a win-win-win situation in the data economy value chain, where data owners receive their fair share of revenue.
