Keyless Raises $6M, Splits From Sift

Keyless has raised $6 million in a new funding round, and will be operating as an independent company after spinning off from parent firm Sift. The funding round was led by Rialto Ventures, and builds on previous investments from P101, Primo Ventures, gumi Cryptos Capital, and Ripple’s Xpring to bring Keyless’s total funding to $26 million.

In announcing the capital raise, Keyless revealed that it had separated from Sift, a San Francisco-based company focused on digital trust and safety, “earlier this year.” Sift had acquired Keyless in November of 2021, but as the latter explains, the firms ultimately “found that their respective products were best suited to servicing differing markets.”

Keyless’s flagship product is a biometric platform that is designed to create biometric profiles for end users that can be leveraged for authentication across the identity lifecycle, and “without needing to store biometric data anywhere,” the company explains. Keyless partnered with Jumio to bring the latter’s selfie-based authentication into its platform near the end of last year, and went on to establish a financial services-focused partnership with Experian in the spring of this year.

Keyless has also distinguished itself in 2023 with a win in the AI Breakthrough Awards, in which it took the award for Authentication Innovation; and with its ISO 27001 certification through an audit by Intercert. In September, the company was also named a Biometric ID Platform Luminary in the inaugural Biometric Digital Identity Prism Report from FindBiometrics and Acuity Market Intelligence.

Commenting on his firm’s backing of the company, Rialto VC General Partner Stefano Quintarelli asserted that Keyless “addresses the urgent need for end-to-end authentication solutions that enhance security throughout the identity lifecycle,” adding, “This capital infusion is pivotal in advancing their market strategy and expanding the adoption of their private-by-design biometric authentication solutions.”

Keyless CEO Andrea Carmignani underscored Quintarelli’s note about the market appetite for Keyless’s solution, and tied the opportunity to Keyless’s split from Sift. “We’re seeing increasing appetite for our biometric authentication solutions across high- profile sectors, such as the banking and financial services markets,” he said. “Being independent allows us to better serve the needs of these markets.”

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November 29, 2023 – by Alex Perala