Optery ranks No. 177 on the 2026 Inc. 5000 List of America's fastest-growing private companies. With three-year revenue growth of 1,906 percent, the personal Data Removal leader ranks No. 2 in Security, No. 12 in the San Francisco metro, and No. 33 in California. August 11, 2026 07:00 ET | Source: Optery SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 11, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - Optery today announced it has been ranked No. 177 on the 2026 Inc. 5000 list, the annual list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. In its first appearance on the national list, Optery also ranked No. 2 in Security, No. 12 in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metro area, and No. 33 in California. The list is the most prestigious ranking of the nation's most successful independent and entrepreneurial businesses, recognizing companies that have achieved remarkable growth while driving innovation, creating jobs, and shaping the future of the economy. Past honorees include companies such as Microsoft, Meta, Chobani, Oracle, and Patagonia. "Being named one of the fastest-growing private companies in America is an extraordinary milestone for Optery," said Lawrence Gentilello, CEO and Founder of Optery. "Our growth reflects the urgent need for a more comprehensive and effective way to remove exposed personal data before it can be exploited for cyberattacks, fraud, and physical threats. Our team built Optery around the belief that personal data removal is one of the most pressing issues in cybersecurity. We are honored to see that work recognized on a national stage and to join the many remarkable companies that have appeared on the Inc. 5000." Optery's growth comes as exposed personal data has become a core security concern for consumers and organizations. The company is unique among personal data removal solutions, combining patented search technology, sophisticated opt-out automation, and expert Privacy Agents to find and remove 40-50 more exposed data broker profiles per person on average than other services. It is also the only service that provides before-and-after screenshots at scale to prove its effectiveness. Optery supports automated removals from 640+ sites and more than 1,000 sites through Custom Removals. Optery for Business serves enterprises by removing personal information from the internet for their employees and executives, and offers an API that enables organizations to embed data broker scanning and removal technology into their own applications. CNET named Optery its 2026 Editors' Choice and Best Overall Data Removal Service; Optery was the #1 most effective personal data removal service tested at the conclusion of a 4-month study by Consumer Reports, and PCMag has named Optery an Editors' Choice for personal data removal for five consecutive years. Optery's technology and growth have been widely recognized across the technology and cybersecurity industries. Business Insider named Optery one of the 30 early-stage startups in 2025 most likely to become tech's next unicorns. Optery has received numerous industry awards, including: * PCMag Editors' Choice for personal data removal (2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026) * CNET Editors' Choice and Best Overall Data Removal Service (2026) * Cyber Defense Magazine Market Disruptor Award in Digital Risk Protection (2026) * Cybersecurity Excellence Awards in Human Risk Management, Anti-Phishing, Attack Surface Management (2026) * Globee(R) Awards for Cybersecurity, Social Engineering Best of Category (2026) * SiliconANGLE TechForward Award in the Digital Risk Protection Platform Category (2026) * Evan Kirstel's SoftwareONE AG Love Tech Award for Security/Cybersecurity, 2026 * Cyber Defense Magazine Most Innovative Anti-Phishing Award (2025) * Fortress Cybersecurity Award for Privacy Enhancing Technologies (2025 and 2026) * Cyber Defense Magazine Best Service for Attack Surface Management (2025) * Cybersecurity Excellence Awards in Employee Privacy Protection, Attack Surface Management, and Digital Footprint Management (2024 and 2025) * Cyber Defense Magazine Top InfoSec Innovator Award for Attack Surface Management (2024) * Intellyx Digital Innovator Award, 2024 * Fast Company's Next Big Things in Tech award for security and privacy (2023) This year's Inc. 5000 recognizes a new class of companies redefining what growth looks like. From AI and advanced manufacturing to healthcare, consumer products, and professional services, these businesses are expanding their impact, creating jobs and proving that entrepreneurial ambition continues to fuel the U.S. economy. Among the 5,000 companies on the list, the median three-year revenue growth rate was 130%, and those companies have collectively added more than 627,208 jobs to the U.S. economy over the past three years. For the full Inc. 5000 list, honoree company profiles, and a searchable database by industry and location, please visit: www.inc.com/inc5000. "Every company on the Inc. 5000 has a story of perseverance, smart decision making, and a refusal to sit still," says Mike Hofman, editor-in-chief of Inc. "Their growth reflects more than strong financial performance-it reflects creativity, resilience, and the customer focus required to build companies that make a lasting impact. We congratulate all honorees on this significant achievement." Inc. will celebrate the honorees at the 2026 Inc. 5000 Conference & Gala, taking place October 14-16 in Dallas, Texas and the top 500 will be listed in the Fall issue of Inc. Magazine. Tickets are on sale now. Inc. 5000 List Methodology Companies on the 2026 Inc. 5000 are ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2022 to 2025. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2022. They must be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independent - not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies - as of December 31, 2025. (Since then, some on the list may have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2022 is $100,000; the minimum for 2025 is $2 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons. About Optery Optery is the first company to offer a free report with dozens of screenshots showing where your personal information is being posted by hundreds of data brokers online, and the first to offer security teams a completely self-service platform for finding and removing employee personal information from the web. Optery subscription plans automatically remove customers from these sites, clearing your home address, phone number, email, and other personal information from the Internet at scale. The service provides users with a proactive defense against escalating PII-based threats such as phishing and other social engineering attacks, credential compromise, identity fraud, doxing, and harassment. Optery has completed its AICPA SOC 2, Type II security attestation, and distinguishes itself with unparalleled search technology, data removal automation, visual evidence-based before-and-after reporting, data broker coverage, and API integration options. Hundreds of thousands of people and over 1,000 businesses use Optery to prevent attacks and keep their personal information off the Internet. For more information, visit www.optery.com. About Inc. Inc. is the leading media brand and playbook for the entrepreneurs and business leaders shaping its future. Through its journalism, Inc. aims to inform, educate, and elevate the profile of its community: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters who are creating the future of business. Inc. is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with fellow leading business publication Fast Company. For more information, visit www.inc.com. For Media Inquiries Sara Trammell Director of Marketing [email protected]

Optery named a winner in the 2026 Evan Kirstel's We Love Tech Awards. May. 14, 2026, 10:00 AM SAN FRANCISCO, May 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - Optery today announced that it has been named a winner in the Security / CyberSecurity category of the 2026 Evan Kirstel's We Love Tech Awards, an annual program celebrating the individuals, organizations, and products reshaping how enterprises work, communicate, secure data, serve customers, and put artificial intelligence into responsible production. Optery is the leader in enterprise-grade personal data removal and the first company to offer IT teams a completely self-service platform for finding and removing employee PII from the web. The award recognizes Optery for helping organizations reduce cyber and physical risk by finding and removing exposed employee personal data from data broker and people-search sites. "From the beginning, our focus has been on building technology that gives people and organizations real visibility into exposed personal data and a practical, effective way to remove it," said Lawrence Gentilello, CEO and founder of Optery. "We're grateful to the We Love Tech Awards for recognizing the impact of that work in helping prevent cyberattacks and physical threats." Optery combines patented search technology with sophisticated opt-out automation to discover and remove dozens more exposed data broker profiles per person than competitors, and is the only service that proves its work with before-and-after screenshots. This approach gives organizations greater visibility into employee exposure and helps reduce the personal data attackers use to carry out social engineering, impersonation, doxxing, and physical threats. "Optery is operating in one of the most underappreciated parts of the security stack, the personal data exposure that quietly fuels social engineering, account takeover, and fraud. Removing more exposed profiles per person than anyone else, on autopilot, is exactly the kind of practical, scale-ready security work this award category exists to recognize," said Evan Kirstel, Founder, We Love Tech Awards. The 2026 We Love Tech Awards recognize honorees across Individual, Organization, and Product nomination types in 15 solution categories spanning artificial intelligence, cloud computing, customer experience, cybersecurity, SaaS, IoT, and more. Almost 400 volunteer judges evaluated entries using the program's domain-specific scoring framework. The full list of 2026 winners is available at welovetechawards.com. About Evan Kirstel Evan Kirstel is one of the most influential voices in B2B technology, with a social reach of more than 550,000 followers across his podcast, YouTube, LinkedIn, X, and Instagram. With years of experience working with Fortune 1000 brands, Evan helps companies harness social media for strategic growth, audience engagement, and social selling. Learn more at evankirstel.com. About Business Intelligence Group Business Intelligence Group (BIG) is an independent awards organization that has been recognizing outstanding achievement in business since 2012. Now in its 14th awards season, BIG operates more than 10 annual programs spanning innovation, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, customer service, cloud computing, sustainability, sales and marketing, workplace culture, and women's leadership. Unlike popularity contests, BIG programs use professional judging panels and objective scoring benchmarks to identify organizations, products, and individuals making real, measurable impact. Winners receive a complete promotional toolkit - including blockchain-verified credentials, press release support, social media assets, and featured placement across BIG's global community of more than one million business professionals. For more information, visit www.bintelligence.com. About Optery Optery is the first company to offer a free report with dozens of screenshots showing where your personal information is being posted by hundreds of data brokers online, and the first to offer security teams a completely self-service platform for finding and removing employee personal information from the web. Optery subscription plans automatically remove customers from these sites, clearing your home address, phone number, email, and other personal information from the Internet at scale. The service provides users with a proactive defense against escalating PII-based threats such as phishing and other social engineering attacks, credential compromise, identity fraud, doxing, and harassment. Optery has completed its AICPA SOC 2, Type II security attestation, and distinguishes itself with unparalleled search technology, data removal automation, visual evidence-based before-and-after reporting, data broker coverage, and API integration options. Optery was named a PCMag Editors' Choice for personal data removal in 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026; was ranked No. 12 Fastest-Growing Private Company in the 2026 Inc. Regionals: Pacific list; received Cyber Defense Magazine's Market Disruptor Award in Digital Risk Protection in 2026; won Cybersecurity Excellence Awards in Human Risk Management, Anti-Phishing, and Attack Surface Management in 2026; and earned a Globee(R) Award for Cybersecurity, Social Engineering (Best of Category) in 2026. The company also won the Top InfoSec Innovator Award for Most Innovative Anti-Phishing from Cyber Defense Magazine in 2025, was recognized in SiliconANGLE's TechForward Awards in the Digital Risk Protection Platform category in 2025, received the Fortress Cybersecurity Award for Privacy Enhancing Technologies in 2025, earned Cybersecurity Excellence Awards in Employee Privacy Protection, Attack Surface Management, and Digital Footprint Management in 2024 and 2025, was named Best Service for Attack Surface Management from Cyber Defense Magazine, received Top InfoSec Innovator Award for Attack Surface Management by Cyber Defense Magazine for 2024, and received Fast Company's Next Big Things in Tech award for security and privacy in 2023. Hundreds of thousands of people and over 1,000 businesses use Optery to prevent attacks and keep their personal information off the Internet. For more information, visit www.optery.com. Media Contacts Eliana Starbird Chief Nominations Officer Business Intelligence Group +1 909-529-2737 [email protected] Markets Insider and Business Insider Editorial Teams were not involved in the creation of this post. Sponsored Financial Content

Optery named a winner in the 2026 Evan Kirstel's Pamplin Media Group Love Tech Awards. GlobeNewswire | Optery Today at 7:00am PDT SAN FRANCISCO, May 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - Optery today announced that it has been named a winner in the Security / CyberSecurity category of the 2026 Evan Kirstel's Pamplin Media Group Love Tech Awards, an annual program celebrating the individuals, organizations, and products reshaping how enterprises work, communicate, secure data, serve customers, and put artificial intelligence into responsible production. Optery is the leader in enterprise-grade personal data removal and the first company to offer IT teams a completely self-service platform for finding and removing employee PII from the web. The award recognizes Optery for helping organizations reduce cyber and physical risk by finding and removing exposed employee personal data from data broker and people-search sites. "From the beginning, our focus has been on building technology that gives people and organizations real visibility into exposed personal data and a practical, effective way to remove it," said Lawrence Gentilello, CEO and founder of Optery. "We're grateful to the We Love Tech Awards for recognizing the impact of that work in helping prevent cyberattacks and physical threats." Optery combines patented search technology with sophisticated opt-out automation to discover and remove dozens more exposed data broker profiles per person than competitors, and is the only service that proves its work with before-and-after screenshots. This approach gives organizations greater visibility into employee exposure and helps reduce the personal data attackers use to carry out social engineering, impersonation, doxxing, and physical threats. "Optery is operating in one of the most underappreciated parts of the security stack, the personal data exposure that quietly fuels social engineering, account takeover, and fraud. Removing more exposed profiles per person than anyone else, on autopilot, is exactly the kind of practical, scale-ready security work this award category exists to recognize," said Evan Kirstel, Founder, Pamplin Media Group Love Tech Awards. The 2026 Pamplin Media Group Love Tech Awards recognize honorees across Individual, Organization, and Product nomination types in 15 solution categories spanning artificial intelligence, cloud computing, customer experience, cybersecurity, SaaS, IoT, and more. Almost 400 volunteer judges evaluated entries using the program's domain-specific scoring framework. The full list of 2026 winners is available at welovetechawards.com. About Evan Kirstel Evan Kirstel is one of the most influential voices in B2B technology, with a social reach of more than 550,000 followers across his podcast, YouTube, LinkedIn, X, and Instagram. With years of experience working with Fortune 1000 brands, Evan helps companies harness social media for strategic growth, audience engagement, and social selling. Learn more at evankirstel.com. About Business Intelligence Group Business Intelligence Group (BIG) is an independent awards organization that has been recognizing outstanding achievement in business since 2012. Now in its 14th awards season, BIG operates more than 10 annual programs spanning innovation, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, customer service, cloud computing, sustainability, sales and marketing, workplace culture, and women's leadership. Unlike popularity contests, BIG programs use professional judging panels and objective scoring benchmarks to identify organizations, products, and individuals making real, measurable impact. Winners receive a complete promotional toolkit - including blockchain-verified credentials, press release support, social media assets, and featured placement across BIG's global community of more than one million business professionals. For more information, visit www.bintelligence.com. About Optery Optery is the first company to offer a free report with dozens of screenshots showing where your personal information is being posted by hundreds of data brokers online, and the first to offer security teams a completely self-service platform for finding and removing employee personal information from the web. Optery subscription plans automatically remove customers from these sites, clearing your home address, phone number, email, and other personal information from the Internet at scale. The service provides users with a proactive defense against escalating PII-based threats such as phishing and other social engineering attacks, credential compromise, identity fraud, doxing, and harassment. Optery has completed its AICPA SOC 2, Type II security attestation, and distinguishes itself with unparalleled search technology, data removal automation, visual evidence-based before-and-after reporting, data broker coverage, and API integration options. Optery was named a PCMag Editors' Choice for personal data removal in 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026; was ranked No. 12 Fastest-Growing Private Company in the 2026 Inc. Regionals: Pacific list; received Cyber Defense Magazine's Market Disruptor Award in Digital Risk Protection in 2026; won Cybersecurity Excellence Awards in Human Risk Management, Anti-Phishing, and Attack Surface Management in 2026; and earned a Globee(R) Award for Cybersecurity, Social Engineering (Best of Category) in 2026. The company also won the Top InfoSec Innovator Award for Most Innovative Anti-Phishing from Cyber Defense Magazine in 2025, was recognized in SiliconANGLE's TechForward Awards in the Digital Risk Protection Platform category in 2025, received the Fortress Cybersecurity Award for Privacy Enhancing Technologies in 2025, earned Cybersecurity Excellence Awards in Employee Privacy Protection, Attack Surface Management, and Digital Footprint Management in 2024 and 2025, was named Best Service for Attack Surface Management from Cyber Defense Magazine, received Top InfoSec Innovator Award for Attack Surface Management by Cyber Defense Magazine for 2024, and received Fast Company's Next Big Things in Tech award for security and privacy in 2023. Hundreds of thousands of people and over 1,000 businesses use Optery to prevent attacks and keep their personal information off the Internet. For more information, visit www.optery.com. Media Contacts Eliana Starbird Chief Nominations Officer Business Intelligence Group +1 909-529-2737 [email protected] This is a paid placement. For further inquiries, please contact GlobeNewswire directly.