Identity management firm AuthMind has closed a $19.3 million seed round led by Californian venture firm Cheyenne Ventures. Other backers of the Bethesda, Md.-based startup include Washington, D.C.-based Blu Venture Investors, New York’s Black Opal Ventures, Dover, Del.-based K2 Access Fund, the Jefferies Family Office and Silver Buckshot Ventures. Existing investors Ballistic Ventures, a West Coast venture firm focused on cybersecurity startups, and IBM also participated. In 2023, AuthMind raised $8.5 million in a prior seed funding round.
Founded in 2020, AuthMind’s technology is based on a patented, AI-based access neural network. It straddles the emerging space of ITDR, or identity threat detection and response. In 2022, it was named a Gartner Cool Vendor in Identity-First Security.
“AuthMind is redefining identity protection by providing continuous, context-driven observability, posture management, and threat detection for all identities and their access paths across multi-cloud, SaaS, and on-premises environments,” said CEO Shlomi Yanai, a 25-year cybersecurity industry veteran. “With the backing of top investors and advisors, we are poised to expand our market reach and protect enterprises against the growth of identity-based threats driven by today’s cloud migration and the accelerating use of AI tools,” added Yanai, who previously led Baltimore-area startups Cyren and DataBlink.
The company says its platform “sees” all identities and accesses, a multifaceted feature seen as critical in the context of widespread use of SaaS and other technologies. AuthMind says it addresses three common issues exploited in identity-based cyberattacks — blind spots, identity infrastructure security gaps, and misconfigurations and noncompliance. With cyberattacks mounting on account of geopolitical rivalries, organizations are said to need newer, modern systems to counter threats.
AuthMind says the latest funding round will enable “greater acceleration of go-to-market operations and product innovations.”
“As enterprises navigate increasingly complex technology environments, the complexity of identity protection has grown exponentially,” said Gregory Eaton, founder and managing director at Cheyenne Ventures. “AuthMind is addressing this challenge head-on with a new approach to identity protection through comprehensive identity observability, giving organizations the context, clarity and control to protect their environments. We are excited to support AuthMind as they lead the way in transforming identity protection.”
