Passwordless authentication startup Beyond Identity has closed a $100 million Series C funding round, bringing its total valuation to $1.1 billion.
The company has been generating excitement with its ‘unphishable’ authentication solution, having been a nominee for Best Authentication Technology in SC Media 2021 Trust Awards. Using public/private key technology and X509 certificates, the solution is designed to cryptographically bind an end user’s identity to their device while also scanning for ‘risk signals’ passively. Beyond Identity says its Zero Trust security solution is being used by some major names in the tech space, including Roblox and Snowflake.
The startup’s latest funding round was led by Evolution Equity Partners and featured contributions from New Enterprise Associates, Jim Clark, Potentum Partners, Expanding Capital, and HBAM. The Series C arrangement also entailed the appointment of Evolution Equity Partners’ Taher Elgamal to Beyond Identity’s board of directors.
The latter appears to be getting a warm welcome from Beyond Identity, which referred to Elgamal as the “Father of SSL” in its announcement of the new funding. In addition to his work helping to pioneer SSL technology at Netscape in the late ’90s, Elgamal is also notably a co-founder of Nok Nok Labs, one of the organizations that is behind the highly influential FIDO Alliance, which advocates for post-password authentication standards and practices.
“Passwords are still the number one attack vector in most breaches. The industry has made progress to create solutions that shield passwords, but these solutions had both security and usability limitations,” commented Elgamal. “Beyond Identity provides a completely passwordless authentication ecosystem that has superior security and usability properties. We’re very excited to participate in this funding round to help the company further accelerate its growth and help customers remove one of the greatest cybersecurity risks they face today.”
Elgamal’s board appointment, together with Beyond Identity’s influx of new funding, comes after the company’s announcement of a new Chief Revenue Officer last month, when Beyond Identity explained that Bill Hogan would have a mandate to help push the company’s expansion into the Asian and Latin American markets.
That strategic initiative appears to remain front and center the startup, which noted that its new funding will be used to fuel its research and development efforts and to “extend the company’s footprint and resources into Asia-Pacific and Lain America.”
Follow Us