Anonybit – an innovator in decentralized biometric authentication and data protection – recently announced that it has secured an additional $3 million funding round led by JAM FINTOP with participation from Connecticut Innovations and 4S Bay Partners, the family office of Jessica Sarowitz and Steve Sarowitz – increasing its total funds raised to $8 million. This additional funding round will accelerate Anonybit’s mission to provide privacy-by-design identity management solutions to enterprises looking for new ways to authenticate users to avoid account takeover attacks and data breaches.
Anonybit’s technology enables the distributed storage and processing of biometrics and other personal data. And the company’s flagship product, the Anonybit Genie unifies the identity lifecycle, connecting digital onboarding to authentication and account recovery through decentralized biometrics along the user journey. Plus, this innovative approach can prevent synthetic identity fraud and account takeovers, supporting a wide range of enterprise use cases.
This team is led by Frances Zelazny, Co-Founder & CEO, a recognized digital identity expert and market strategist with nearly 25 years of experience in biometrics, fraud prevention and payments, and Yaron Azizi, Co-Founder & Chief Architect, alumni of the prestigious 8200 unit within the Israel Defense Force and initial architect of the BioCatch and Tapingo (acquired by Grubhub) platforms.
Along with the funding round, joining the team as Chief Revenue Officer is another industry veteran with significant cryptography, cybersecurity and startup experience Limor Elbaz, best known for her sales leadership at Imperva and Peerlyst; and joining as a new member of the Advisory Board is Cybercrime and Fraud Expert Al Pascual, former industry analyst at Javelin Research and co-founder of Breach Clarity that TransUnion recently acquired.
KEY QUOTES:
“Anonybit’s unique, enterprise-grade technology enables banks and other enterprises to safely and compliantly leverage biometric data to authenticate users. With cybercrime a persistent and growing threat, we believe deploying enhanced methods of authentication will become table stakes for banks. We have been impressed by the Anonybit team’s deep industry experience, as well as the company’s traction with identity verification providers and other industry partners that service banks.”
— Ryan Zacharia, Managing Partner at JAM FINTOP
“We all read the headlines and continue to be alarmed by the rapid pace of increased fraud, which suggests that existing solutions are mere bandaids. When thinking about the root cause, it boils down to two things. Personal data is stored in central honeypots that are impossible to protect and we allow the use of this data to authenticate ourselves. It’s a never-ending cycle. Many players in the industry aim to expand their offerings to address more comprehensive use cases in identity, but only Anonybit can get us out of the current paradigm by making it safe to store biometrics. This key differentiator is crucial for account recovery and eliminates the need to fall back on inferior, knowledge-based authenticators, passwords and more, whether online, in a branch, at a call center or in a chat channel.”
“This funding round validates our vision and gives us the resources to propel the next stage of our growth and deliver on the promise of privacy and security with no tradeoffs.”
— Frances Zelazny, Anonybit Co-Founder and CEO
“Having dedicated a substantial portion of my career to the field of fraud and identity, I’ve witnessed numerous solutions that often feel like reactionary fixes. Anonybit, however, stands out as a pioneering solution that gets to the root cause of the problem, helping to ensure that people really are who they claim to be across the user journey, eliminating the gaps that attackers exploit. I am excited to be joining a team with a proven track record in this industry and I am eager to leverage my expertise to help promote this pioneering technology so it is adopted as quickly as possible.”
— Al Pascual
