Beyond Identity, a security startup on a quest to eliminate passwords, today announced a $75 million Series B funding round, bringing the total investment in the company to $105 million.
Launched in April by internet icons Jim Clark and Tom Jermoluk (past founders of Netscape, Silicon Graphics and @Home Network), Beyond Identity has launched a certificate-based authentication and authorization solution that eliminates the need for passwords.
The company provides passwordless authentication through its Beyond Identity Authenticator, which supports all major operating systems (MacOS, Windows, iOS and Android), and a cloud-native platform that supports industry standards (e.g., OpenID Connect, SAML, TLS, and X.509). The platform integrates with existing SSO implementations, as a delegate identity provider, to protect companies’ existing investments — such as Okta, Ping, ForgeRock and Microsoft. In this instance, the user logs into the SSO, which then provides access to the services, but in this case, even the password into the SSO is eliminated.
“We can simply drop into any site that already has an SSO,” Jermoluk previously told SecurityWeek. “They’ve already done the heavy lifting — all of the work that has been done over the last ten years by the SSO doesn’t have to be repeated. What we do is take that work all the way to the end user with no need for a password at all.”
The company says its platform also incorporate granular endpoint security data into a “continuous risk-policy based authentication” model.
The company will use the additional funding to support expansion of its platform and accelerate sales and marketing efforts.
“Passwords are so repeatedly exposed that they have become a commodity for criminals. The result has been an exponential rise in account takeover fraud that is costing companies billions annually.” said Beyond Identity CEO, TJ Jermoluk. “Too many companies use the phrase ‘passwordless’ totally wrong. They aren’t actually eliminating the password at all, just applying band-aids to existing legacy password systems. Fundamentally strong authentication requires that companies completely eliminate passwords.”
The Series B round was funded by existing Investors in the company, including New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Jim Clark, and Koch Disruptive Technologies.
*Kevin Townsend contributed to this report
Related: Silicon Valley Legends Launch Beyond Identity in Quest to Eliminate Passwords