Richart Ruddie had one of those lightbulb moments that changes everything. After spending a decade running Profile Defenders, a bootstrapped online reputation management agency he’d started with $500, he stumbled across a headline that stopped him cold: OneTrust, an Atlanta-based data privacy company, had raised capital at a $5.1 billion valuation.
“I was like, ‘Wait, one of the solutions we offered is called data privacy. What am I doing wrong that my business was worth maybe $10 million and this one’s worth $5.1 billion?'” Ruddie told Refresh Miami.
That moment of reckoning led him to sell his agency and pour everything into Captain Compliance, a privacy and compliance automation startup he launched in August 2023. Last week, that bet paid off when Captain Compliance won the Early Stage Showcase at Venture Atlanta 2025, claiming the top prize among 90 presenting startups at one of the Southeast’s largest venture conferences.
The win came at a moment when Captain Compliance’s growth trajectory was already turning heads. The nine-person Fort Lauderdale startup started 2024 with just $9,500 in annual recurring revenue. Today, it’s crossed $700,000 ARR – a 1,000%+ growth rate fueled by an explosion in privacy litigation.
“The biggest driver of our business is actually privacy lawsuits coming from private right of actions where individuals are able to sue businesses for having something like Facebook’s Meta Pixel for tracking them without their permission,” Ruddie explained. Beyond the major headlines, countless smaller businesses have paid out thousands before discovering Captain Compliance’s software.
The company targets mid-market businesses with $10 million to $200 million in revenue while expanding into enterprise accounts. “My goal is anywhere you go – you’re driving down Broward Boulevard or Biscayne Boulevard – you see a Burger King, you see Hilton Hotels, those are all eventually clients of ours.”
For Ruddie, who moved to South Florida in 2002 for college and never left, building locally matters. “I want to be a household name in the software community in South Florida,” he said. The Fort Lauderdale headquarters offers strategic positioning between Palm Beach, Dade, and Broward counties. One of Captain Compliance’s first job postings even ran in Refresh Miami.
The Venture Atlanta victory is already opening doors. Ruddie said the company is now fielding interest from multiple investors. The company aims to close 2025 at $1 million ARR and reach $2-3 million by the end of next year.
When Captain Compliance took the stage at Venture Atlanta, competing against buzzy AI and fintech startups, Ruddie’s narrative about turning privacy risk into growth infrastructure stood out. In a room full of cutting-edge technology showcased to firms like Accel, Vista Equity Partners, and Goldman Sachs, a company built on privacy enforcement claimed the crown.
“While I’m elated by the win, we’re just getting started and we’re going to be embedded everywhere before you know it,” Ruddie said.
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