Company FAQs Who is Inrupt? Inrupt is a commercial startup co-founded by CEO John Bruce and CTO Sir Tim Berners-Lee. As a company, we will provide software and services for developers, organizations, and end users. The company grew out of the work Tim and his team at MIT were doing on the open technology called Solid. Solid provides a better way to structure data, applications and identities on the web. Tim and John started Inrupt on the belief that the Solid technology provides a unique opportunity to reshape the web, creating richer and more valuable experiences for everyone. In Inrupt’s short history, we’ve assembled a team of world-class business and technology leaders, thinkers, and doers who are staking their careers on this vision. To find out more about our team, see our Leadership page. Why does Inrupt exist, and what is its relationship to Solid? Inrupt exists to drive the world toward a new era of innovation, built on the web but encompassing much more. Our mission is enabled by Solid, the open technology created by our co-founder, Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Solid provides a better way to structure data, applications, and identities on the web. With Solid, Inrupt is redefining who controls and benefits from data online. Through carefully selected partners and a global community of developers, we’re proving we can create revolutionary value — for organizations, developers, and everyone — by putting users in control. What is Inrupt building? Many things. An inclusive open source community, a team of experts and visionaries, partnerships with top internet companies, and ground-breaking technology. Our first products are allowing organizations and developers to build a new breed of applications with capabilities above and beyond what is possible today. Together, we’re laying the groundwork for a future when the whole web is built on Solid. What is Inrupt’s business model? The details of Inrupt’s business model are still evolving, but we see boundless commercial opportunity in a web built on the principles of Solid. In the near term, our technology will power developers and organizations that are building a new breed of applications with capabilities above and beyond what is possible today. Although we can't always share details, we're excited to be working on pilots in industries like healthcare, government, and finance to develop Solid-based technology that solves high-profile problems in a way that existing data architecture simply cannot. In the long term, we aim to be a key contributor to a world in which users control their data and draw value from a vibrant ecosystem of beneficent applications. When will Inrupt’s technology be available? Some of our technology, like our Solid React SDK, is already in the hands of open source developers, making it easy for them to build Solid apps. Other technology is in the hands of early partners and customers, supporting a variety of products and services that will bring new kinds of value to users. There’s much more to come, of course. Keep an eye on our Press page and Blog to stay up to date on what we’re able to say publicly. Where does Inrupt operate? Though young, Inrupt is already a global business. We have team members in Boston, New York, London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Berne, Oslo, Toulouse, and probably several more places by the time you read this! What types of organizations work with Inrupt? Inrupt works with some of the largest and most influential public and private organizations across industries like finance, healthcare, and government. We look forward to sharing the exciting progress coming from our early pilot programs. Why do organizations work with Inrupt? Like users, many organizations are fed up with the current state of internet technology. They’re frustrated by the limitations of data silos, anxious about the burdens of collecting troves of personal data, and frustrated that their digital tools can’t support their most ambitious projects. By flipping the rules of who gets value from data, Inrupt’s technology allows organizations to transform latent ideas into valuable new products and services. Ultimately, the work of our partners will usher in a new era of creativity, opportunity, and market-shaping competition—that will benefit us all. What will Inrupt do for developers? By breaking apart data and applications, Solid unlocks new and exciting ways for developers to use the web. Inrupt’s tools and services make it as easy as possible for developers to build this new kind of app, whether those developers work in large organizations, on small teams, or as part of the open source community. Our team helps to develop the underlying Solid specification, maintains an open source SDK and other tools, hosts a Pod server on inrupt.net in order to support development work, and is working on a suite of tools to help enterprise developers. How will users benefit from Inrupt? Inrupt is leading a course-correction of the web. Our long-term vision puts users in control of their data and allows them to draw value from a vibrant ecosystem of beneficent applications. We want the services built on Inrupt’s technology to provide millions of people with a richer online experience and more powerful tools to improve their lives. Is Inrupt competing with the tech giants? Inrupters are more interested in building than destroying. Inrupt is excited to try something entirely different with a primary focus on delivering valuable customer experiences. Aligned with the zeitgeist of today’s business, cultural, and regulatory environments, we know the time to realize Tim’s vision is now. How does your technology work? If you’re looking for a basic overview of the concepts behind Solid, there are many great resources in the open-source community. If you’re looking for more details about how Inrupt’s technology can support your use case and integrate into your environment, please send us a note at info@inrupt.com. Inrupt.net FAQs What is inrupt.net? Inrupt.net is a cloud-hosted instance of the open source software Node Solid Server. This software allows users to establish Pods — virtual places where they can store all kinds of data and choose how to share it with applications or other users. Is inrupt.net a commercial offering? Inrupt.net is not a commercial offering. Inrupt hosts Node Solid Server on inrupt.net as a way to let people explore the basic functionality of Solid and to provide open source application developers with Pods to test against. Node Solid Server is not intended to represent an Inrupt product. Inrupt cannot make any promises about security, functionality, or reliability in regards to inrupt.net. We do not recommend that you store sensitive or important data on the service. Please see our Terms of Service for more details. Is inrupt.net compliant with GDPR, CCPA, or other privacy regulations? Today, inrupt.net is not officially compliant with various privacy regulations due to the fact that inrupt.net is not a commercial service, but meant primarily to provide open source application developers with Pods to test against.