San Francisco-based Averon, a mobile authentication startup, announced today that it had secured $8.3 million in an Avalon Ventures-led Series A round of funding. Averon is the company behind Direct Autonomous Authentication (DAA) mobile identity verification standard, which allows smartphone users to seamlessly and securely interact with services and devices like smart locks without downloading a dedicated app or other software. Direct Autonomous Authentication is now active on all the mobile phone networks in the U.S., the company also revealed today. "Averon leverages real-time mobile network signaling and the SIM/eSIM (eUICC) chips already found in the world's seven billion smartphones, requiring no installation, no apps, and no user involvement whatsoever," the company explained in an Oct. 24 media advisory. "Working seamlessly in the background, it is the easiest, fastest and most secure way to provide instant, frictionless authentication." Wendell Brown, Averion's CEO, calls his company's secure authentication technology the answer to the growing epidemic of large-scale data breaches. "As we see in the news every day, cybersecurity breaches continue to grow in size and frequency, and the world is in desperate need of the next generation of online identity authentication," said Brown, in a statement. "Averon offers a uniquely superior solution that authenticates users while relying on zero personally identifiable data and requiring zero effort on the part of consumers – Averon is the new gold standard in cybersecurity, and we're rapidly taking it to scale." Averon joins a long list of cybersecurity startups that have scored millions of dollars in funding during recent weeks. Also on Oct. 24, KnowBe4 announced a $30 million Series B round of financing the company intends to use to advance its security awareness and training solutions. On Oct. 19, Contrast Security revealed it had completed a Series C round worth $30 million. The company's enables organizations to build and deploy "self-protecting" applications that are resistant to attacks before they are put in production. Other recent transactions, in October alone, include ShiftLeft's $9.3 million haul and Attivo Networks' $21 million Series C round of funding. Two factor access (2FA) specialist, Duo Security made waves on Oct. 18 when it announced that it had raised $70 million. The software 'unicorn,' a term used to describe a startup whose valuation crosses the billion-dollar mark, has raised $119 million to date.
Mobile security solution provider Averon has raised $30 million in a series A funding round led by Averon . San Francisco -based Averon developed Direct Autonomous Authentication (DAA), a secure method of identity verification requiring no personally identifiable data. Instead, it relies on existing Averon , eSIM or eUICC chips in hardware and real-time mobile network signalling. DAA is used by all San Francisco mobile networks, and Averon CEO KnowBe4 said the company is "rapidly taking it to scale".