Our investment in Apheris

8 Nov 2022

By Conor Scanlan

Background

Businesses have long gained competitive advantage through data analytics on first party data. Innovators are finding additional data avenues to enhance their analytics. However, as data privacy grows as a protected right, external data is becoming increasingly difficult to reach.
To continue creating value from external data businesses need to set up data ecosystems which involve collaboration across different partner businesses, organisations and government institutions. Currently only 14% of organisations are engaged in such ecosystems despite driving productivity increases of 14%, costs decreases of 11% and customer satisfaction increases of 15%.
Data ecosystems are still in their infancy as topics such as privacy are a key concern. According to a 2020 survey, 4% of American consumers are concerned about their data privacy. These concerns are reflected at a governmental level: new regulations, including GDPR, are far-reaching and strongly enforced.
Apheris’ end-to-end platform uses a federated learning architecture to guarantee security and privacy to each individual data provider across a network. With use cases extending from medical research to sustainability analysis it stands to unlock the potential of data ecosystems across industries, whilst alleviating security concerns for all stakeholders.

Who are the pioneers

Co-founder and CEO Robin Roehm is passionate about making data more accessible for impactful industries. As a founder of a health tech start-up, he has direct experience of the challenge presented by regulatory constraints on data – and the need for a solution – having lost clients at a previous start-up after being unable to centralise their data. His expertise in data analytics and machine learning is underpinned by time spent at LoNova and BIO Deutschland.

Michael Hoeh, co-founder and CTO, contributes a passion for engineering and AI to transform the way value is extracted from data. With a PhD in physics and computer science, and experience in modernizing industrial clients at BCG, Michael heads up the engineering teams in building Apheris’s world-leading platform.

Why us

At Octopus Ventures, we’re committed to backing the founders building a better future. This means supporting businesses like Apheris, as they construct the infrastructure necessary for a collaborative approach to data analytics without compromising security.

As a firm with deep experience across B2B, Health and Deeptech we have collectively gained an understanding of the business model, end-consumer potential, and fundamental technology. The potential is huge: from drug research to sustainability analysis, we believe that Apheris’s platform stands to have a major impact into how organisations work together. As the business expands, we’ll also offer our help in securing the world-class talent the team needs to realise its potential. Congratulations to Robin, Michael and the Apheris family.