Gener8 closes £2m funding round, valuing company at £39m

Gener8 – a free-to-use app that allows people to take control of their data and receive rewards from it – has announced a £2m funding round, valuing the company at £39m.

A consortium of investors participated in the round, joining former investors including musician Tinie Tempah, legendary football manager Harry Redknapp and Dragons’ Den stars Peter Jones, Touker Suleyman and Tej Lalvani.

Gen8 is creating a movement to highlight the importance of protecting our online data and the diverse nature of the lenders shows that this issue affects many from all walks of life. It turns your online data into real rewards: from gift cards and gadgets to exclusive offers and charity donations. It’s like frequent flyer miles for the internet.

Gener8 founder, Sam Jones, (photo) said: “The world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, it’s data, and as a result, everything that happens online is tracked. The majority of websites we visit and apps we use place trackers on us to track our movements and understand our behavior. These trackers allow dozens and sometimes thousands of companies to collect our information and then exploit or sell it to monetize our data.

“But this is our information and at Gener8 we believe that people should have the choice to stop this or, even better, make money from it themselves.”

Gener8 also reveals what information other apps store about you. It visualizes this in an easy-to-understand way and then allows users to exchange their anonymized data from these companies for Gener8 rewards – if they wish. No data leaves an individual’s device or passes through Gener8’s systems without their express permission. All insights are generated on a user’s device and data is only shared if he/she wishes. All data is anonymized, so personal information is never shared with anyone.

In academia and government there is a concept called PIMS (personal information management systems). This is essentially the idea that in the future systems will be created that will allow people to centralize their data in one location. Gener8 is now doing that today.

Sam continues: “Think about it. Isn’t it strange that we don’t even know which companies are buying and selling our data?”

“We actually don’t even know which data companies have us under their control. What do Facebook and Google know about you? Why do spam emails keep arriving in your inbox? Well, the Gener8 app lets you connect to different apps and shows us the data that these apps keep about you.

“So, for example, if you connect to Google, we can show you all the data Google keeps about you: every search you’ve ever done, every YouTube video you’ve watched, every ad you’ve clicked. It’s mind-boggling. We can then offer you the option to delete this data from Google. Or if you choose, you can anonymize your data and monetize it. When we launched the app in 2023, we were the first company in the world to enable people to centralize their data in one location and monetize it.”

Headquartered in London, Gener8 products have been downloaded more than a million times, with the app downloaded every 90 seconds. The company has grown to 26 employees and is on track to become a British tech unicorn again this decade.

Sam added: “With consumers and regulators around the world realizing the extent of online surveillance, personal data management has the potential to become a global market worth billions and with a majority winner-take-all approach. chosen. As it stands, Gener8 is well positioned to win this race and bring more digital success to Britain.”

Gener8’s founder Sam Jones has been dubbed ‘the best pitch ever’ on Dragons Den and has attracted investment from a range of high-profile individuals.