Deal Memo: TripleBlind
Last week, I opened up an early-stage fund to enable us to accept co-investment. We call it Rolling Fun. This was inspired by the incredible response to a previous post: Deal Memo: Density.io. Below is the story of another personal angel investment I’ve made.
Deal Memo: TripleBlind
In May 2020, I took a deep breath and wrote the scariest angel check I’ve ever written. Today, that investment is up more than 10x. Here is the story…
May 2020 was a bizarre time for all of us. We were hand washing our groceries, afraid to go for walks outside, not sure how long lockdowns would last.
Pandemic aside, in May we experienced a death in close our family, my job had a (highly) uncertain future, and markets were tanking. I didn’t know if I’d need cash to pay rent, or if the markets were about to offer the bargain of a lifetime.
In the middle of all of this, I took a deep breath and wrote a check. At the time it was my largest ever, into a brand-new company. I was terrified. But I was more afraid of missing what I thought could be one of the most important companies in the world.
I’d love to tell you about it.
A few months earlier, I was listening to the founder, Riddhiman Das, at a small vaguely entrepreneur-themed dinner I’d organized. As we all introduced ourselves, Das briefly explained the technology he was researching:
Das: (I’m paraphrasing) “We’ve developed a cryptographic method to enable operations on secure, private, encrypted datasets by secure, private, encrypted algorithms.”
Eric: “Will you explain that again?”
Das: “You know all those enormous, super private, encrypted datasets? Like Personal Medical Records, Financial Data, and proprietary information?”
Eric: “Yea”
Das: “Well, we have a way to get insights from that data, without ever moving, exposing, or revealing that data.”
Eric: “That seems impossible.”
Das: “It used to be.”
(I’m paraphrasing still, but it felt this badass.)
Eric: “Holy shit. Would you do me the honor of letting me invest?”
At first, this seems hasty, but there’s some background. Let’s revisit my criteria for personal angel investment:
Founders I love and respect?
Working on a clear problem in a big enough market?
Wish I could clone myself and go work there?
The answers to all of these came together in seconds.
Note: If you are a person who works on, near, or with massive secure datasets, please check out Tripleblind.ai immediately.
People
I was lucky (Type 2 luck) to be in this situation–lucky to have been eating with Das at this particular time and place. (One can create this kind of luck through the noble work of organizing small get-togethers with delicious food, and it’s one of my favorite things to do!)
But much more so, I was lucky to have met him through a close and trusted mutual friend, Zach Pettet. Das and Zach had been friends for a long time, and Zach and I had been close for years too. I trust Zach’s “people radar” – if he knows Das well enough to love, respect, and trust him I default to love, respect, and trust too.
If I had not had such a close, trusted friend who knew and trusted Das, the claims on this tech would have been hard to believe.
Usually when you meet someone who claims they can do something impossible, they’re… wacky. Occasionally they are incredibly talented, mind-blowing, world-changing founders who move our whole species forward. Lucky for us, Das is one of the world-changers.
Das is known by reputation in Kansas City – his first company sold for $100m. He would have no trouble at all building an excellent team.
As I’ve gotten to know Das better, all of these early intuitions have proven correct. He’s a brilliant, humble, hardworking man with a huge vision and a mountain of talent. I respect him deeply and we’re all lucky to share this big orb with him.
Founders I love and respect? Hell yes!
Market
Is Tripleblind working on a clear problem in a big market?
Well, the market is “This data has privacy concerns!” and the problem is “But it’s USEFUL data! Why can’t we use it?”
So, Yes. Clear problem, big market.
Most of the initial, high-value use cases here are in Financial and Healthcare spaces. Big marketS.
I don’t know much, but I know that almost all data has some reason for privacy concerns, and is increasingly governed by actual regulations (ike GDPR) which require specific location and encryption on sensitive data.
And I know there is HUGE, HUGE value to be unlocked from making that data accessible.
What wasn’t obvious to me at first was HOW BIG the market was – because it’s not just those who held the data, but also those who hold the algorithms that actually deliver the insights.
Here’s a fake-but-sane example: an algorithm can predict the occurrence of cancer before any symptons, where early treatment saves lives. You have a magic formula, priceless to some families and worth billions to the market. But it’s fragile – anyone could steal your algorithm. It’s not just the data that needs to be kept private and secure, it’s the algorithm too.
The market is the Data providers AND the algorithm providers.
And is the market growing? I’m certain that it is. There is more data and new types data created every day. Researchers are training new AI models to read MRI screens, underwrite financial data, even write marketing copy.
I believe the existence of Tripleblind will actually accelerate growth in the market of high-value algorithms by enabling them to safely create and capture value by remaining private as they deliver their results.
The market is huge, critical, and growing. That’s a market I want to be in.
Product
I admit, understanding the nuance of the technology behind Tripleblind is beyond my grasp. There is a core mathematical breakthrough at the foundation, which separates Tripleblind from work-arounds currently in the market, and provides a moat of intellectual property.
If understanding this is your jam, grab their whitepaper:
There is an accumulating advantage, because more and more datasets will move onto the Tripleblind platform. Operating on multiple datasets at once unlocks entirely new insights. (Say an algorithm can access credit card data, bank data, and investment data at the same time – providing much more accurate predictions than any one source could alone.)
Das has said Tripleblind is like the “Stripe of Privacy” – god I hope so!
Doesn’t this feel like Stripe?
“The core thesis at TripleBlind is that privacy-enforced data and algorithm interactions will unlock the tremendous value, which is currently trapped in private data stores and proprietary algorithms.
We will move the world from ‘don’t be evil’ to ‘can’t be evil’, by enabling everyone to freely collaborate around their most sensitive data and algorithms without compromising their privacy. Together we will create a new paradigm of compounded value.”
That’s a vision I want to be a part of.
Founders I love and respect? HELL YES.
Working on a clear problem in a big enough market? HELL YES.
Wish I could clone myself and go work there? HELL YES.
If I had four more Erics, I’d send two of them apply to work at Tripleblind. (One would already work at Density and another would run a sandwich shop.) It’s great group of people working on a huge problem with incredible new technology.
Decision: Invest in Tripleblind
Invested via SAFE in May 2020. It was a tough check for me to write at the time. I hope it’s the hardest I ever have to write! But I had great conviction in Das, his vision, and this technology. There hasn’t been a moment of regret since.
As Tripleblind grows, it will quietly enable millions of lives to be saved and billions of dollars earned, with a technology that unlocks a new kind of value creation.
In October 2021, 17 months later, Tripleblind raised $24m at an undisclosed-but-very-much-improved valuation from Mayo Clinic, Accenture Ventures, and more. From my entry point, we’re up 10x. That is remarkable for 17 months, a testament entirely to the team at Tripleblind.
I expect Tripleblind has a very long way to grow, and I’m excited to be a miniscule part of the journey and support them however I can.
It’s amazing what a dinner can do.
Work with Tripleblind
The team is expanding quickly to continue growth. There are a number of open roles on their career page, for all types of skills and backgrounds. Everyone I know at the company is a wonderful and kind genius.
If helping to quietly enable secure access to billions of rows of private data to help people live longer and richer lives sounds interesting to you, check out some of the opportunities.
Invest in startups with us: Rolling Fun
Last week, I opened up a vehicle for co-investing in my early-stage deals. We call it Rolling Fun. You can read more about our fund here. If you’d like to invest alongside us, apply on our AngelList page. This is an adventure and learning experience as much as it is an investment vehicle.
We would love to work with you to support founders deploying technology to improve our world. Together, we will be investing in companies like TripleBlind and Density, as well as in categories like web3, saas, eCommerce, and more. If you want to join, see what we’re investing in, or just read more, please click below.
If you’d like to talk more about it, please send me an email or DM. (Unfortunately, we’re currently limited to working only with accredited investors).
Caveats and Call-outs
This investment isn’t exited or liquid in any way. The last act hasn’t been written, and current trends are no guarantee of a good outcome. Startups are hard and the future is uncertain and the true nature of reality itself is unknown.
This is not an advertisement for YOLO-ing money you can’t afford to lose into highly speculative, illiquid investments. I (kinda) know what I’m doing.
Tripleblind is not an investment inside Rolling Fun, though it is a good example of the kind of companies we love to invest in. If you invest with us in Rolling Fun, you are not getting exposure to Tripleblind.