Dataships, a Dublin-based startup specialising in data privacy software and services, has successfully raised €6.8 million in a Series A funding round to automate compliance for the eCommerce sector.
This investment was led by Osage Ventures Partners, with additional participation from Lavrock Ventures and Urban Innovation Fund. The funds will enable the company to further its mission of transforming compliance from a regulatory requirement into a tool for growth, specifically tailored for the eCommerce sector.
Ryan McErlane, Co-founder and Co-CEO, Dataships said, “Most eCommerce brands follow a familiar playbook, drive traffic, offer discounts for email sign-ups, maybe test a traffic de-anonymizer, hope for purchases and remarket those that don’t. But this underutilises the most impactful and brief moment for building marketing lists, the checkout. […] Since focusing on the eCommerce market, we’ve discovered something extraordinary, when done right, compliance isn’t just about protection, it’s about growth. By dynamically optimizing consent language at the checkout, based on visitor location and marketing channel, we’re helping merchants achieve remarkable results in terms of increased opt-in rates, marketing contacts, and additional revenue generated through repeat purchases.”
Founded in 2019 by Michael Storan and Ryan McErlane, Dataships operates from both NexusUCD in Dublin and an office in San Francisco, employing 25 people. Initially focused on compliance technology, the team soon identified a gap in the market: leveraging compliance to drive revenue and optimise marketing outcomes.
The startup’s software automates GDPR and CCPA compliance for eCommerce businesses, making it easier for merchants to grow their marketing lists without breaching data privacy regulations.
McEarlane added, “The one-size-fits-all approach of most consent collection setups at checkout can cause problems. It usually either has too high of a standard for compliance, which loses opt-ins, or too low a standard for compliance, which poses compliance risks. […] The Dataships platform solves this by being the only solution that guarantees both list growth and compliance at checkout. This is especially beneficial for multi-channel, multi-national brands that need to be able to serve different consent configurations for both email and SMS and for shoppers in different regions.”
The newly secured funding will be channelled into three strategic areas:
- Product Innovation: Enhancing features to support audience growth while ensuring compliance.
- Market Expansion: Broadening its reach within the eCommerce sector.
- Customer Success: Scaling support and engineering teams to meet increasing demand.
Michael Storan, Co-founder and Co-CEO, highlighted the significance of the current eCommerce landscape. “In today’s landscape where acquisition costs are still rising, personalization is expected, and privacy is a real concern from shoppers, merchants need more than just tactics, they need a systematic approach to expand reach and more meaningfully engage their highest-value audience, purchasers. […] We’re building Dataships to be the essential growth platform for modern eCommerce brands. One that transforms compliance from a burden into a competitive advantage, helping merchants build larger, more engaged marketing lists that drive sustainable revenue growth.” he said.
Since its inception, Dataships has achieved notable milestones:
- Enabled a 10x increase in SMS opt-in rates with its double opt-in feature.
- Boosted email marketing contacts by 3–4 times.
- Attracted over 500 clients, including brands like Ekster and Benchmade.
- Added 8 million new marketable contacts, generating €108 million in repeat purchase revenue.
Recent product innovations include its SMS Easy Opt-in feature, which replaces traditional “Reply Y” methods with in-checkout verification, and an A/B testing engine to optimise opt-in strategies.
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2025/01/dataships-secures-e6-8-million-to-turn-data-compliance-into-an-ecommerce-growth-engine/
