Sift acquires Keyless to add biometric passwordless MFA to fraud prevention portfolio

Keyless has been acquired by payment fraud prevention leader Sift to integrate the former’s innovative biometric authentication technology for eliminating passwords.

Sift praised Keyless’ capability to eliminate account takeover fraud with its zero-knowledge cryptography and privacy-preserving biometrics, its FIDO Certification, and its support for GDPR compliance, PSD2’s Strong Customer Authentication requirements.

Sift has also added $25 million to a Series E funding round that brought in $50 million earlier this year, raising its valuation from $1 billion in April to $1.7 billion, according to a company announcement.

Keyless raised $9.2 million in a funding round that closed in April, just as the company concluded a series of partnerships with OneLogin, Auth0 and Microsoft.

The company provides SDKs for businesses to deploy biometrics for interoperable passwordless logins on websites and apps and an authenticator app for integration into logic systems, with users authenticating with face biometrics through the device camera or webcam.

“Protecting businesses from fraud while reducing customer friction is the foundation of a Digital Trust & Safety strategy,” states Marc Olesen, president and CEO of Sift. “Keyless has created a truly innovative product that provides better account security with less friction for users, and meets the qualifications for regional regulations like PSD2. We’re so excited to bring the Keyless team to Sift and for our customers to benefit from their incredible technology and expertise.”

“Our mission at Keyless is to provide people and organizations with a passwordless future, where the user is the key,” says Andrea Carmignani, CEO and co-founder of Keyless. “Joining Sift will allow us to reach businesses around the world, stop account takeover attacks at scale, and ensure that users can authenticate seamlessly across devices with nothing more than a glance at their device’s camera.”

FIDO Alliance Executive Director and CMO Andrew Shikiar lauds Keyless’ novel approach to authentication leveraging FIDO protocols, claiming that “Advances in biometric technology have signaled the beginning of the end for passwords.”

The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Article Topics

access management  |  acquisitions  |  authentication  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  facial recognition  |  fraud prevention  |  identity verification  |  interoperability  |  Keyless  |  passwordless authentication  |  SDK  |  Sift