tru.ID, a passwordless authentication platform leveraging SIM card cryptography, has raised £6.9 million in a seed funding round.
Sorenson Ventures joined the round, alongside Episode 1, MMC Ventures and NHN Ventures.
Sorenson provides strong US-based connections which will be valuable as the company prepares to roll out its services into the USA market.
tru.ID exists to help companies solve the $1 trillion threat of cybercrime attacks on customers and employees. It says that in today’s post-COVID hybrid world, legacy authentication methods, using passwords and PIN codes sent by email or SMS, are no longer fit for purpose – they are vulnerable to criminal attacks such as phishing and provide a poor user experience.
Businesses have been trying to replace passwords for years, but have failed to find a secure and scalable solution. Now, the answer is here, combining the ubiquity of the mobile phone with the cryptographic security of the SIM card.
“Cybercrime threatens all online businesses. The annual cost is estimated to be over $1 trillion and increasing,” said Paul McGuire, co-founder and CEO.
“One of the biggest vulnerabilities is the password. But finding a more secure alternative that is easy to use and widely available has proved impossible – until now. tru.ID brings a new solution that the world urgently needs: strong online security that is easy to use and already in everyone’s pocket.”
The SIM card is the same highly secure technology that is in every credit card, and there are already 5 billion-plus SIM cards deployed. That means every customer and every employee already has a cryptographically secure digital identity token in their pocket.
tru.ID makes this security solution available through an API-based SaaS platform. It is already live in 20 markets.
We moved to US – then COVID threatened to destroy my business