Authentication Platform Company Callsign Raises $35M
August 01, 2017
By Paula Bernier
Executive Editor, TMC
A five-year-old authentication platform provider named Callsign recently raised $35 million in a Series A round. Accel and PTB Ventures led the round, in which Allegis Capital and NightDragon Security also participated.
The money will enable Callsign to expand across the U.S. and the Far East. The London-based company plans to open offices in the Bay Area and New York City this year.
Callsign’s Intelligence Driven Authentication platform leverages deep learning, fraud analytics, and multifactor authentication. It applies deep learning to device, location, and behavior analytics. Plus it employs biometric and knowledge-based authenticators. It can be integrated with SaaS apps, VPN clients, or anything else.
IDA (News - Alert) enables businesses to define their own security policies based on the situation. If usage on an account or device is deemed suspicious, then the platform can serve up security challenges for the user. If a user inputs the correct password, but the system sees that other factors are unusual, IDA may seek additional information for authentication.
Callsign is led by Zia Hayat, the founder, chairman, and CEO of the company. He formerly served as a research engineer at BAE Systems (News - Alert) and as an Internet banking security architect at Lloyds Bank.
In fact, Lloyds Bank and Deutsche Bank are among the users of the Callsign platform.
The platform was launched with large customers 18 months ago. It is now in use by hundreds of thousands of users.
“Several years ago I realized that the way we identify ourselves online was very broken,” said Hayat. “I knew we needed to make existing solutions like multi-factor authentication and fraud analytics better by bringing them together. Our IDA platform has had an incredible reception from financial institutions, governments, and other large enterprises, and this investment will allow us to grow the business and meet some of the strong demand we’re seeing.”
Edited by Alicia Young
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