Trying to keep data ‘Cloaked’
Lowell brothers hope to take control of all your data from Big Tech and give it to you
lowell » Two brothers native to the Mill City are looking to change the future of user privacy online.
Arjun Bhatnagar serves as the CEO and Abhijay Bhatnagar as the chief technology officer of their new startup, Cloaked. The brothers co-founded the company in 2020 and are hoping to ensure privacy and security for users, while still allowing them to use the services they enjoy.
So far, Cloaked has secured $4.25 million in funding. Backers include such recognizable names as venture capitalist Peter Thiel and Next Play Ventures, a firm led by Jeff Weiner, the former CEO and current executive chairman of Linkedin. Other investors include Human Capital, General
Catalyst, Lux Capital, Index Ventures, All Turtles and The Chainsmokers’ Mantis Fund.
“The problem about security, privacy all started when I was thinking about all of my data. Where does my data live and who has access to it?” Arjun Bhatnagar said. “And it came to light when I started by putting a computer in my apartment and I said, ‘I want to figure out what to do with all my data.'”
Bhatnagar wrote a basic artificial intelligence program using data from his calendar, email, fitness tracker, bank account and GPS. The program started telling him to fit in pushups between meetings and even handling his interpersonal relationships.
“It really hit me in the head when I was at lunch with someone and I put my phone down. I picked up my phone and I realized that my really basic AI had a full conversation with my then-girlfriend. It had said ‘I love you,’ started sending her memes and had a full back-and-forth conversation. Then it was over, and at the end of the conversa