2019 # Fails: #Data, #Analytics, #AI, #GDPR, #CCPA & More...

2019. A year that held so much promise — in Data, Artificial Intelligence, and in IPOs.

In 2019, $100 billion venture capital funding was invested across 10,000 deals. Plus, IPOs led to more than $200 billion value in VCs — turning 2019 into the most profitable year for exits in over 10 years.

Yet, this year definitely still saw its round of failures, too — including three epic ones listed below.  

IPOs led to more than $200 billion value in VCs — turning 2019 into the most profitable year for exits in over 10 years.

IPO bust

Expectations were high for a number of technology IPOs, including Uber, WeWork, and Slack. But two of them didn’t perform well — and the other one didn’t get the chance to perform at all.

Before Uber’s IPO, its valuation was more than $80 billion, but then it broke below its IPO price tag. Market experts have shared that its high valuation led to scrutiny about the company’s path to profitability and the eventual lower stock price. 

WeWork faced similar issues. After filing its paperwork, WeWork’s money-making capabilities were questioned and its leadership was also criticized. As a result, WeWork delayed its IPO — and soon after, its CEO stepped down. Ben Narasin, a Venture Partner at NEA blamed WeWork’s “lax corporate governance.”

Following these two debacles, technology companies like Postmates, may have gotten scared and chosen to delay their anticipated IPOs.

On the other hand, Zoom and Datadog saw successful IPOs. According to Alex Niehenke, partner at Scale Venture Partners, they soared while others sank because they are “super cash efficient, hyper-growth companies operating at a significant scale that garner significant public market premiums.” 

Next up is Airbnb’s IPO. We’ll have to wait and see if it learns any valuable lessons from its Silicon Valley friends. 

According to Risk Based Security, data breaches increased by 33% since last year. 

Data breaches on the rise

If it seems to you like every other day, another data breach is covered in the news, it may not just be a feeling. According to Risk Based Security, data breaches increased by 33% since last year. 

Notable breaches included a few from Facebook, including hundreds of millions of users’ credentials that were exposed in March, followed by hundreds of millions of records that were exposed in April due to their storage in unprotected servers.

Then, Capital One joined the list of banks whose data breaches have led to the exposure of millions of customers’ personal information. For Capital One customers, that included 100 million credit card applications, 140,000 social security numbers, and 80,000 bank account numbers. 

In September, the US Department of Defense took action against data breaches. In their new cybersecurity standards, the department strengthened requirements for government contractors. I hope this will help.

The California DOJ report estimated that the cost of initial compliance with the CCPA could reach $55 billion

In 2020, customer data governance will be at the center of many corporate strategies. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) comes into effect on January 1. If you were familiar with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of 2018, CCPA is a very similar type of law and is the result of a crusade from Alastair Mactaggart who fought for years to regain control over his personal data.  

The California DOJ report estimated that the cost of initial compliance with the CCPA could reach $55 billion. This will have a significant impact.

Facial recognition controversies

There are so many great usages for facial recognition — verifying someone’s identity to prevent fraud or protecting schools from dangerous individuals. 

But, it seems like companies are still working out the kinks.

In fact, at the end of December, a National Institute of Standards and Technology study revealed racial and gender bias in facial recognition software. While many American law enforcement agencies use facial recognition to find suspects, some cities have found that it infringes on civil liberties and have banned its usage.

When Fortune’s building gave employees the option of entering their offices with facial recognition scanning, Fortune’s Robert Hackett considered how easy this would be — before deciding to stick with his ID. He wrote, “No one told me how or where this digital representation of my face would be stored. Would it be encrypted? Who would have access to the database? Could I delete my data at will?”

These concerns were later top of mind for many people who rushed to upload their photos to the Russian FaceApp’s photo-editing app just so they could see how they would look in their old age.  

In 2020, will facial recognition tools deliver on their promises to be effective, easy, and helpful — instead of discriminatory and creepy? 

While I don’t know the answer to that, I do know that 2020 promises to have its own slew of failures. Stay tuned.