Brussels, 06/04/2023. The Belgian data vault specialist use.id raises 1 million euros from LeanSquare and finance.brussels to expand its activities and customer base in Belgium and Europe. use.id makes it easy for companies and organizations like UZ Brussel and Randstad to exchange data with their customers. It facilitates data sharing using Solid vaults while safeguarding the privacy and security of customers, patients and citizens.
Today, people have more and more e-mail addresses, accounts, passwords and places where their data is stored. Every day, you exchange your data with your bank, your favorite webshop or your employer. The way you exchange data varies a lot depending on the instance you’re sharing data with. This is not only annoying for you, it’s also very expensive for all the companies that need to make the same IT investment.
A solution for this chaos was needed. That’s why Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, invented Solid. Solid is the new standard for data sharing. You can compare it to a list of rules that need to be followed by all parties that store data. This data is stored in Solid vaults. The Solid protocol ensures compatibility of all the instances that save and share data. Solid is gaining more believers and users daily, among which the Flemish government.
use.id, an easy and secure data sharing solution
use.id enables companies to use Solid for data sharing and re-use of data. Data can be accessed in your personal Solid data vault, which allows you to keep the overview of all organizations that have your data. Data sharing using Solid is extra secure and hacking-proof.
Organizations use use.id to set up their own personal data ecosystem or connect to an existing one. Unlike other solutions, use.id relies on open standards to be interoperable and future-proof. It’s compatible with (open) initiatives such as Solid, Data Spaces, Verifiable Credentials & Linked Data. Use.id caters to innovative organizations that want to exchange data with their customers, citizens or patients.
"As we expand our services across Europe, this recent funding round is a testament to use.id's ability to drive growth and innovation while keeping users at the center of the experience," said Wouter Janssens, CEO of use.id. "Built upon the Solid protocol, our platform empowers forward-thinking CEOs and innovation officers to tap into customer data with less hassle. With use.id, teams can start building in just days, and our unwavering commitment to user-centric solutions and open standards ensures secure, private, and efficient data exchange."
Ready to conquer Europe
Among its early adopters, use.id can count on organizations such as: the Swedish Government, that wants to enable citizens to share government-issued certificates with the private sector; healthcare actors like UZ Brussel, that improves patient care by exchanging data from medical devices between patients, care providers and researchers; enterprises like Randstad that want their candidates to be able to re-use their degree provided by the Flemish government; startups like Linckr that offer a digital experience for homebuyers.
Right: use.id's overview of shared data
https://get.use.id/cases/randstad
Currently, Use.id is setting up the first eco systems in their home base, Belgium - and this is just the beginning. The data vault specialist raised 1 million euros in a funding round led by LeanSquare and finance.brussels. With this funding, it will use best practices gathered in Belgium as a catalyst for the rest of Europe. The model that already works for use.id today in Belgium will be exported internationally. Soon, Solid will be used for data sharing in the whole of Europe - and use.id will lead the way.
Thomas Rulmont, Investment Manager at LeanSquare said: “We recognized in use.id a unique solution that is a key building block for service providers in the ecosystems that Leansquare and Noshaq are supporting, especially in health care, energy and enterprise software. Use.id will enable these companies and their users to make a swift move to a decentralized architecture for storing personal data. By doing so they will ensure that their solutions are ready for Web 3.0 and future proof.”
Elisabeth Leysen, investment manager at finance.brussels said: “Finance&Invest.brussels invested in Digita, an innovative Brussels-based company. What mainly convinced us was the combination of a strong management team surrounded by a large network, the many possibilities and use cases possible with Solid and the various market trends and movements currently going on in the world of the ‘world wide personal data web'.”
About LeanSquare
LeanSquare (Noshaq Group) is an investment fund based in Liege, which invests in digital and new economy investors. Established in 2014, in recent years, LeanSquare has invested over 26 M€ (allocated) and currently finances 43 companies. It boasts a portfolio of national and international companies. In addition to its goal of providing support and finance, the fund specialises in four business sectors: Entertainment Tech, Enterprise Software, and Transition.
About finance.brussels
finance&invest.brussels is a public limited company that facilitates and completes the financing mix for Brussels-based companies with a clear focus on a number of key sectors that promote sustainable economic development and job creation. The company provides concrete solutions to the financial needs of entrepreneurs, in the form of loans, capital or guarantees, at decisive moments in their existence. These financing solutions are aimed at start-ups, scale-ups, SMEs, but also very small social entities and cooperatives.
About use.id
use.id is an initiative by Digita, a Brussels-based technology startup, which aims to enable people & organizations to exchange data without concerns through Solid. Digita was advised by Van Olmen & Wynant during this funding round.
More information on Randstad's use-case can be found here: https://get.use.id/cases/randstad and https://www.randstad.be/nl/over-ons/nieuws/randstad-group-belgium-pioniert-met-eerste-gebruikstoepassing-vlaamse-datakluizen/.
More information on use.id's Connector to Athumi can be found here: https://get.use.id/solutions/solid-connector
Contact
Wouter Janssens, wouter@digita.ai, +32 474 74 09 69
More information & photos at https://www.digita.ai/press
