Today, Experian, the global information services company, announced that it has acquired Garlik Limited, a provider of web monitoring services based in the United Kingdom. Garlik uses Semantic Web Technologies to help consumers protect themselves from the risks of identity theft and financial fraud. At the last SemTechBiz UK Conference, Steve Harris, CTO of Garlik, presented “Combatting Online Crime with RDF.” Mr. Harris presented a compelling case of Garlik’s use of Semantic Technology throughout its offerings to support business-critical, highly sensitive production systems to financial institutions worldwide.
Garlik was founded in 2005. Through its main product, DataPatrol, Garlik captures and monitors information from a variety of sources across the wider web and social networking sites using its proprietary web-crawler technology. DataPatrol generates alerts when an online loss, disclosure or theft of consumer data is detected, and suggests next steps on how to respond to incidents before an individual becomes a victim of financial crime or identity fraud. Garlik provides services in the UK, US, Germany and Italy.
Last August, Steve Harris was a guest on the SemanticLink Podcast. That episode is available here.
The acquisition of Garlik extends Experian’s presence in identity protection, consistent with Experian’s strategic goal to become the most trusted consumer brand for credit monitoring and identity protection services. It enables Experian to offer a more comprehensive identity protection product to its customers and clients, while accelerating plans to expand consumer protection services into new geographies. The acquisition will form part of Experian’s Interactive business.
At 31 December 2010 Garlik had gross assets of US$1m. Garlik was acquired from venture capital investors DFJ Esprit and Doughty Hanson, and the founding shareholders. The acquisition has been funded from Experian’s existing cash resources.
Congratulations to the entire Garlik team!
