US-based identity authentication system developer Payfone received $23m in funding yesterday in a round featuring corporate venturing subsidiaries of insurance firm Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance and financial services provider Synchrony Financial.
MassMutual Ventures and Synchrony Ventures invested alongside individuals Anil Aggarwal, Jonathan Weiner and Andrew Prozes.
Founded in 2008, Payfone provides a digital identity authentication platform that authenticates online identities, comparing millions of signals with multiple authentication factors in order to create what it calls a Trust Score for each identity.
The technology is used by banks, insurance providers and brokerages to protect against cyber attacks, and to allow users to set up new accounts more easily while still verifying their identities. The company will use the capital to expand into the retail, insurance and healthcare sectors.
Payfone has now raised a total of $78m in equity funding $23.5m of which came in a January 2017 series E round co-led by Prozes and BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners, the corporate venturing vehicle for health insurance firm Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
Payment services provider American Express and telecoms firms Verizon and Rogers also took part in the series E round, through their American Express Ventures, Verizon Ventures and Rogers Venture Partners units, as did payment technology provider Transaction Network Services.
The series E was filled out by Early Warning Services, a joint venture between five financial services firms, as well as land developer Maclab Development Group, RRE Ventures, Opus Capital, Relay Ventures and private investor Strauss Zelnick.
Payfone had secured $19m in a 2011 round led by American Express Ventures and backed by Rogers Ventures, Verizon Ventures, Relay (then called BlackBerry Partners Fund), Opus and RRE, and another $10m from Early Warning Services in 2013.
Michael Hensinger, senior managing director of Synchrony Ventures, said: “Our investment in Payfone enables Synchrony to deliver innovative mobile authentication solutions that will continue to improve the customer experience.
“We are excited to work with the Payfone team and continue our focus on eliminating friction from the authentication process for our customers.”