Currently in beta, the company is adding product and engineering resources leading up to a planned public app launch in Q1 2022

TIKI, the data privacy app that gives people ownership of their data and the option to protect, control and monetize it, launched its first-ever crowdfunding campaign on StartEngine enabling anyone to purchase a stake in the company – not just professional investors. TIKI is rapidly expanding its product and engineering teams to keep pace with its growing waitlist of over 122,000 users.

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TIKI is a mobile app that, for the first time, puts power in the hands of users, allowing people, not big tech, to control what data is shared about them and how that data is used. If users choose to share their information, that data is 100% anonymous, and they get paid for it. TIKI democratizes data, creating a unique, opt-in marketplace protecting users and providing better, safer and lower-cost data for all businesses to fuel growth – not just giant corporations.

“Data is this generation’s gold rush – it’s a multi-trillion dollar commodity that we collectively own, and it’s being used to exploit us. This data belongs to people and TIKI gives them the opportunity to decide how to use it,” said TIKI Founder and CEO Mike Audi. “We are building a trusted destination based on radical user-centricity and transparency where people – not companies – go when they have an issue with their data. It’s all about the users, and this crowdfunding round provides a unique opportunity for them to become shareholders, deepening our focus on the user.”

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From February to May 2021, sign ups for the TIKI app increased tenfold. User interest is aligned with the increasing value of data. Monumental shifts have recently occurred in the market for consumer data. In April, Apple made another series of privacy changes to prevent advertisers from tracking users across devices, apps and email. User privacy demands have forced big tech to crack down on data availability. This scarcity is driving up costs, incentivizing large corporations to invest millions in data capture workarounds. Digital ad spend in 2021 is expected to top $455 billion – a 20.4% increase year-over-year.

“Almost every move we make online or off is tracked and then monetized by thousands of companies behind the scenes. It’s your information, so it should be up to you to decide what happens to it,” said TIKI Co-founder and Chief Product Officer Anna Stoilova. “TIKI is one-of-a-kind because the people are inherently our stakeholders; every big move or feature update we make is informed by their suggestions and feedback. Our engaged and growing community of 122,000 data-informed users shows us that people are really ready to take control of their data.”

Founded in December 2020, TIKI now has more than 122,000 users signed up on its platform. In Q3 2021, TIKI plans to open up its beta program to at least 50,000 active users. With this round of funding, the company is on track for its official launch in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store in Q1 2022. By this time next year, TIKI aims to bring data ownership to 1 million users.

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