Preventing Data Breaches: Keyless Secures $2.2M Round

Keyless closed on a $2.2 million funding round that it will use to continue helping clients combat hacking and phishing attacks.

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The London-based company, founded in 2019 by Andrea Carmignani, Fabian Eberle, Paolo Gasti and Giuseppe Ateniese, is developing a platform that combines biometrics and secure multiparty computation. It enables businesses to no longer need to store or manage authentication data, such as passwords or cryptographic keys, and access to the digital service from any device.

The new funding was led by P101 SGR, with participation from Maire Investments, Luiss Alumni 4 Growth, Primomiglio SGR and Xpring. The raise brings Keyless’ total funds raised to $6.2 million, which includes a $2.5 million pre-seed round in 2019, and $1.5 million secured in government-backed startup loan schemes, such as Italy’s Smart&Start Italy program.

Keyless plans to use the funds for technical and product development, including expanding its team, Eberle said in an interview. In addition to its London headquarters, the company also has offices in Rome and Singapore.

The startup tested its product on 10,000 students last year, letting them verify their identity in order to take exams remotely. Now it is launching its product for consumers as well as enterprises, focusing on the financial services and large enterprise sectors.

“The financial services sector is required to strongly authenticate users, especially in Europe and Singapore, and increasingly the U.S.,” Carmignani, CEO, said in an interview. “The core difference in what we do is that we don’t store any biometric data or secrets on the device. It is also not dependent on hardware, you just need a camera.”

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