US-based voice authentication technology developer Pindrop collected $90m in series D funding yesterday from investors including Allegion Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of security product maker Allegion.
Dimension Data, the IT services subsidiary of telecommunications group NTT, also participated in the round, as did financial services firm Citi’s investment arm, Citi Ventures, and GV and CapitalG, two investment vehicles for internet and technology conglomerate Alphabet.
The round was led by private equity firm Vitruvian Partners and also included EDBI, the investment unit of Singaporean government agency Economic Development Board, investment bank Goldman Sachs and venture capital firms Cross Creek, Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) and Andreessen Horowitz.
Founded in 2011, Pindrop has built a voice authentication platform that detects fraud and identifies genuine customers by analysing more than 1,300 aspects of a call, building user profiles to confirm identities on subsequent calls and analysing keypresses to establish behavioural patterns.
The software is currently aimed at call centres but Pindrop will use the funding to build additional products for smart locks, connected cars and smart devices such as Google Home.
The company will also strengthen its market position in Europe with the support of Vitruvian, while EDBI will assist with market penetration in Asia. Additionally, Dimension Data will help Pindrop accelerate global expansion by offering access to its reseller network.
Pindrop also intends to develop partnerships internationally in areas including telecommunications and the consumer internet of things.
The company has raised approximately $217m to date, most recently closing an $80.8m series C round in August 2016 following a $5.8m extension supplied by unnamed investors.
Pindrop had raised a $75m first tranche for the round that was led by CapitalG in January the same year, with participation from GV, Citi Ventures, IVP, Andreesen Horowitz and Felicis Ventures.
Citi Ventures had already taken part in the company’s $35m series B round in 2015 alongside IVP, Andreessen Horowitz, Felicis Ventures, Redpoint Ventures and Webb Investment Network.
Pindrop had previously secured $11m in a series C round co-led by Citi Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz and backed by Redpoint Ventures, Felicis Ventures and seed investor Webb Investment Network two years earlier.
