LinkedIn Acquires Tumult Labs Team to Strengthen AI Agents and Privacy Tech

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LinkedIn has announced the acqui-hire of Tumult Labs, a startup that provides privacy-preserving data analytics for enterprises. The deal’s financial terms were not disclosed, though Tumult Labs says it will sunset “its current form” within the next 90 days. Only a portion of the Tumult Labs team will join LinkedIn—not the entire company or its technology. LinkedIn’s Chief AI Officer, Deepak Agarwal, clarified that only Tumult’s co-founders and a select group of engineers have been retained. Pitchbook reports the company has up to 20 employees.

As part of LinkedIn, these team members will work to enhance the professional social network’s AI agents, emphasizing privacy safeguards.

Founded in 2019 by University of Massachusetts-Amherst professor Gerome Miklau, Colgate University professor Michael Hay, and Duke University professor Ashwin Machanavajjhala, Tumult Labs specializes in privacy technology that enables the “effective use of data while respecting the privacy of contributing individuals.” Its product is used in various sectors, including advertising, banking and finance, and the public sector. And while it hasn’t disclosed any venture capital investments, the startup counts Duke University as one of its investors.

“There is a privacy problem,” Machanavajjhala once explained, “because rampant data collection means everybody has access to very sensitive data about you. The raw data itself is sensitive, but combining the data across different sources makes it even more sensitive.”

All three co-founders first realized the scale of this problem when they worked for the U.S. Census Bureau, where they worked to protect the agency’s data.

“Not everyone has the resources that Census has, or that Google has, or that Facebook has, or Apple,” Hay told GrepBeat in 2021. “And so, I think we saw working with these other companies, just how hard it was if you didn’t have an in-house team of experts to help you. That really motivated us to think about the possibility of starting a company like Tumult Labs, which we ultimately did.”

Although the current incarnation of Tumult Labs will cease to exist, organizations will likely still be able to tap into the company’s Tumult Analytics offering, as it’s an open-source platform.

LinkedIn is one of the best sources for tracking someone’s work history, similar to how the Census Bureau tracks demographic data. Deploying AI agents can help the more than 1 billion members find employment, seek advice, or build stronger networks. But while there’s a treasure trove of data at a developer’s fingertips, information must be kept as private as possible. And even if there are guardrails and privacy policies in place, there are always areas to improve, and that’s likely where the Tumult Labs team will be assigned.

When reached for further comment, a LinkedIn spokesperson directed me to Agrawal’s post as its official statement.

Updated on 3/31/25 to reflect a LinkedIn spokesperson comment and to clarify that only select members of the Tumult Labs team were joining LinkedIn.

Featured Image: LinkedIn acquires Tumult Labs to enhance AI and privacy tech. Image credit: Tumult Labs, edited by Ken Yeung