MFA vendor Beyond Identity raises $100m to fund global expansion

Password protection vendor claims the company is now valued at $1.1bn

Multi-factor authentication provider Beyond Identity has raised $100m of Series C funding to aid the company's global expansion.

The latest round raises the total funding to date to $205m and the business is now valued at $1.1bn, it claims.

Evolution Equity Partners led the round, with existing investors New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Jim Clark, as well as Potentum Partners, Expanding Capital and HBAM also participating.

The new funding will be used to "further expand Beyond Identity's research and development and extend the company's footprint and resources into Asia-Pacific and Latin America".

"As an industry, we are coming dangerously close to being complicit in cybercrime," said TJ Jermoluk, co-founder and CEO of Beyond Identity.

"Pouring truckloads of VC and PE money into legacy authentication technology will not protect companies. Throwing money at security ‘controls' that criminals consistently evade, in an attempt to inexplicably protect and preserve the gaping hole that is passwords, is not only funding failure, it's knowingly failing companies and customers.

"Password managers, phishable MFA, and outdated VPN technologies are not the answer and will not close the wide-open door that criminals waltz through every day. Today's announcement sends a loud message that failure is no longer an option."

The password protection vendor claims its annual recurring revenue (ARR) rose by 330 per cent from 2020 to 2021 while its roster of customers grew 640 per cent.

The company now has more than 180 employees across North America and EMEA including an engineering team of over 100 developers.

Beyond Identity has also announced that 2019 Marconi Prize recipient Taher Elgamal of Evolution Equity Partners will be joining the board of directors.

"Passwords are still the number one attack vector in most breaches," said Elgamal.

"The industry has made progress to create solutions that shield passwords, but these solutions had both security and usability limitations.

"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."