Password Manager Dashlane Raises $110M Series D To Scale Digital Identity Solutions

Passwords. They’re a relic of a simpler time in computing. Dating back to 1960, when MIT computer scientist Fernando Corbató needed a way for individual users to store and access their own files on a shared mainframe, the humble computer password is the first and thickest barrier between your information and an adversary.

Subscribe to the Crunchbase Daily

There are some rules of thumb for passwords. First, don’t use the word “password” as your password. Second, because passwords are “cracked” using computers, more characters in a password corresponds to the amount of time it’ll take for someone’s GPU to brute-force your hash. In general, the longer the password, the stronger the password. Third, don’t reuse your passwords.

That last bit is easier said than done, given how many passwords we have to manage these days. That’s why a lot of folks are using password managers. And Dashlane is one of the companies competing in the sector.

Today, Dashlane announced it raised $110 million in a Series D round led by Sequoia Capital. Prior investors Rho Ventures, FirstMark Capital, and Bessemer Venture Partners participated in the deal, according to a press release provided to Crunchbase News. The company’s valuation was not disclosed. As part of the transaction, Sequoia Capital partner Jim Goetz joins Dashlane’s board of directors.

Dashlane also gets a new chief marketing officer. Joy Howard will join Dashlane’s executive team after transitioning out of her current role as CMO of Lyft. A representative for the company told Crunchbase News that the position had been vacant for some time; its previous occupant, Jeff Paradise, became Dashlane’s chief revenue officer in August 2018. Paradise moved on to become CRO of Pipedrive.

In its press release, the company says its password management software is available in 11 languages and is used by over 11 million people across 180 countries. “For years the tech community has maintained that people don’t care enough about their digital security to invest in real protection,” incoming CMO Joy Howard said in a written statement. “We don’t believe this is true. Rather, people care deeply about protecting their digital identities, but lacked the effective means.”

According to Crunchbase data, Dashlane has raised over $210 million in combined debt and equity funding. Its most recent financing came in the form of a $30 million debt deal struck with Hercules Capital. Dashlane closed its Series C round back in May 2016.

Dashlane says it will use its new investor capital to continue building out its core products with new features to meet the needs of its individual and enterprise users.

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias