RecordPoint acquires Redactive to boost AI data security focus
RecordPoint has acquired Australian AI company Redactive, enhancing its provision of data security and governance solutions for regulated industries.
The acquisition reflects RecordPoint's focus on strengthening its AI capabilities as demand rises across sectors such as banking and regulation for robust data handling and security frameworks. The deal's financial terms were not disclosed.
Redactive, which started operations just 18 months ago, developed an enterprise-grade AI tool specialised in sensitive data discovery and classification. In its early phase, the company secured significant clients such as superfund HESTA and property exchange platform PEXA, and was supported by investors including Blackbird, Felicis, Atlassian Ventures, and Zapier. Blackbird is noted as a continuing shareholder prior to this transaction, following Redactive's fundraising of USD $19 million.
RecordPoint counts organisations including Westpac, NAB, Macquarie, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC), and the City of New York among its client base. The incorporation of Redactive's AI solution is seen as a move to support these clients' growing requirements for scalable and secure data management as they adopt artificial intelligence tools.
"With over 8 million pieces of data moving through our platform per day, RecordPoint is now handling more data transactions than the NASDAQ," said Anthony Woodward, CEO of RecordPoint.
He continued, "Redactive's solution will be instrumental as we look to bolster our capabilities with AI security and governance and continue to scale our operations. This is to ensure that, as the volume of data we handle for our clients exponentially grows, our capability grows with it."
Woodward also said, "The speed and precision with which the Redactive platform was built made it an ideal candidate for our plans for future growth. While there's still room to grow in both the US and Australia, we're eager to bring RecordPoint's solution into new markets in Asia and Europe."
AI and security trends
Alex Valente, Redactive's co-founder, described the acquisition as a reflection of rapid developments in AI adoption. "This deal marks one of the first acquisitions of an AI-powered enterprise solution in Australia. It shows just how quickly AI is speeding up the pace of business," he said.
According to Valente, "RecordPoint is the ideal partner to scale Redactive's impact globally. Anthony and his team see the value of what we've built, and it's exciting to see the Redactive platform continue to be deployed in production across RecordPoint's financial services customers in Australia and the US."
Valente gave further detail on the decision to partner with RecordPoint: "When we started deploying proof-of-values of Redactive AI in the US market, we quickly recognised that organisations required full data security platforms to address traditional and emergent AI security risks. We were left with a decision, double down on the new - or expand into the existing Data Security market. Partnering with RecordPoint made total sense so we could service these clients end to end, leveraging our expertise in AI Security, whilst customers get RecordPoint's mature proven data governance capabilities."
On why the partnership suited both parties, Valente commented, "As we are all Australian founders, we've known Anthony at RecordPoint for a while and stayed up to date with one another on the market and security trends. When we began pursuing a data security platform strategy and seeked to partner with leaders in the space, RecordPoint stood out. They had the installed customer base with dream Redactive customers, along with a real ability to distribute our platform locally and internationally. Talks quickly changed from partnership agreements to acquisition."
Future plans for founders
Redactive's founding team, comprising Andrew, Alex, and Lucas, is now preparing to launch a new venture. "We are starting a new venture and are getting ready to share news on it soon. I can't say too much right now whilst we are in stealth," Valente said.
He added, "What I can say is that as founders, we discovered a problem that was a real inhibitor to scaling software companies that we personally experienced whilst building Redactive, and our peer founders felt the pain significantly too. It's a problem we are both really passionate about and we are well placed to solve given our experience building Redactive.... In short, we think we've cracked it with a killer solution."
