Golden
AcquiredSan Francisco, US · 11 known investors
Golden builds a self-constructing knowledge graph that combines artificial and human intelligence to automatically map and reconcile human knowledge from millions of disparate sources. The platform serves organizations requiring accurate, up-to-date knowledge bases, including financial crime intelligence applications.
Also known as Golden Protocol
Founders & leadership
Investors · 11
Also in the syndicate · 1
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Golden was a San Francisco-based company, active from 2017 to 2024, that set out to build a self-constructing knowledge graph of the world's information, automating what it described as one of the world's largest knowledge graphs by mapping and reconciling human knowledge from millions of disparate sources. The system combined machine intelligence with human contribution to maintain a continuously reconciled record of entities and facts, and the engineering team specialised in data extraction, entity disambiguation, natural language processing and large language models.
Alongside the knowledge graph, Golden pursued a decentralised data protocol described in 2022 as using token-based financial incentives to encourage the submission and validation of accurate data. At that time the protocol was in testnet, with mainnet launch indicated for the second quarter of 2023. Company contact pages referenced API access, datasets and enterprise plans as commercial offerings.
In April 2024 Golden was acquired by ComplyAdvantage, an AI-driven financial crime intelligence firm serving more than 1,000 enterprises across 75 countries. Golden's data extraction and entity-disambiguation methods were incorporated into ComplyAdvantage's ingestion pipeline, and its AI and large-language-model engineers joined ComplyAdvantage's data science team.
Founding story
Jude Gomila, a Cambridge-trained engineer who previously co-founded the mobile platform Heyzap (acquired in 2016), started Golden in San Francisco in 2017 with the goal of combining artificial and human intelligence into a single continuously reconciled record of the world's knowledge.
Business model
Golden offered access to its knowledge graph data, with its contact pages referencing API access, datasets and enterprise plans, and an account-based product that users could log into and contribute to. It also developed a decentralised data protocol intended to use token incentives to reward accurate data contribution and validation. The company additionally won government work, including a $1M US Air Force contract announced around its 2021 Series A.
Sources indicate commercial routes via API access, datasets and enterprise plans, plus a $1M US Air Force contract; no revenue figures are disclosed.
Traction
Golden raised roughly $59.5M across seed, Series A and Series B rounds, with a16z leading and backing every round and Marc Andreessen serving on the board. It closed a $1M US Air Force contract around 2021. Its decentralised protocol was in testnet as of October 2022. The company was acquired by ComplyAdvantage in April 2024.
Latest developments
On 24 April 2024 ComplyAdvantage acquired Golden. Golden's extraction and entity-disambiguation methods were integrated into ComplyAdvantage's ingestion pipeline, its AI and LLM engineers joined the ComplyAdvantage data science team, founder Jude Gomila became a board observer and special advisor, and a16z became a top shareholder of the combined company.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Golden positioned itself as building one of the world's largest automated knowledge graphs; it was also characterised in 2022 trade press as a web3 data company. Its acquisition placed the technology inside ComplyAdvantage, which protects over 1,000 enterprises across 75 countries.
Golden described its knowledge base as self-constructing and continuously reconciled, combining machine automation with human input rather than relying solely on manual curation, and paired the graph with a token-incentivised protocol for data accuracy and validation.
Technology
A self-constructing knowledge graph that ingests and reconciles information from millions of disparate sources, combining artificial and human intelligence. Core technical capabilities cited are data extraction, entity disambiguation, natural language processing and large language models. A companion decentralised data protocol used token-based incentives for data submission and validation and was in testnet as of October 2022, with mainnet targeted for Q2 2023.
Go-to-market
Enterprises and organisations seeking large-scale, reconciled entity and knowledge data via API or dataset access, as well as government customers such as the US Air Force. Post-acquisition, the technology serves regulated financial institutions through ComplyAdvantage.
Geography
Headquartered in San Francisco, United States. Following the acquisition, its technology operates within ComplyAdvantage, which serves enterprises across 75 countries.
History
Founded in 2017 in San Francisco by Jude Gomila. Raised a $5M seed round in 2019 from a16z, Founders Fund, Gigafund and SV Angel; a $14.5M Series A in 2021 led by a16z, at which point Marc Andreessen joined the board and Golden closed a $1M US Air Force contract; and a $40M Series B announced in October 2022, again led by a16z with participation from Protocol Labs, Raj Gokal and Arash Ferdowsi, bringing total funding to approximately $59.5M. On 24 April 2024 the company was acquired by ComplyAdvantage.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Competitors · 1
by search overlapCompanies competing with Golden for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
Non-dilutive funding · 2 SBIR/STTR awards
Federal grants — no equity taken| Agency | Phase | Year | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Air ForceAir Force | Phase II | 2020 | $2M |
| U.S. Air ForceAir Force | Phase I | 2020 | $49.8K |
Source: SBIR.gov award data (U.S. Small Business Administration). SBIR/STTR awards are competitive federal R&D grants and contracts — non-dilutive capital alongside any venture rounds above.
Timeline · 6
launches, deals, and filingsComplyAdvantage, an AI-driven financial crime intelligence firm serving over 1,000 enterprises in 75 countries, acquired Golden. Golden's extraction and entity-disambiguation technology was integrated into ComplyAdvantage's ingestion pipeline, its AI/LLM engineers joined the data science team, Jude Gomila became board observer and special advisor, and a16z became a top shareholder of the combined company.
Series B closed in early October 2022, led by a16z with Protocol Labs, Raj Gokal (Solana) and Arash Ferdowsi (Dropbox) participating; a16z partner Ali Yahya joined the board. Funds earmarked for developing Golden's decentralised data protocol.
$40M source ↗
a16z partner Ali Yahya joined Golden's board following the Series B; Marc Andreessen was already a director.
Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz; Marc Andreessen joined Golden's board.
$14.5M source ↗
Golden closed a $1M contract with the US Air Force around the time of its Series A.
$1M source ↗
Seed round backing the self-constructing knowledge database, with a16z, Founders Fund, Gigafund and SV Angel participating.
$5M source ↗
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- Goldengolden.com · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Golden do?
- Golden built a self-constructing knowledge graph and was acquired by financial crime intelligence firm ComplyAdvantage in 2024.
- Who founded Golden?
- Golden was founded by Jude Gomila.
- Who are Golden's investors?
- Golden's investors include Founders Fund, Gigafund, SV Angel, a16z crypto, Andreessen Horowitz, DCVC (Data Collective), Great Oaks Venture Capital, Vela Partners and 2 more.
- Where is Golden headquartered?
- Golden is headquartered in San Francisco, US.