UK identity and cybersecurity startup PixelPin, which uses image-based authentication instead of passwords, has closed a £1.5m Pre-Series A funding round, led by Japan's SBI Investment.
SBI invested £1m, with existing angel investors topping up the total to £1.5 million. This brings PixelPin’s total funding to date to $4.5m.
FIDO-certified PixelPin says it will use the capital to establish new offices in Tokyo to act as a base for the company’s expansion into Japan and the wider Asian market. The company already has offices in London and Cheltenham.
PixelPin’s cloud-based platform, hosted on Microsoft Azure, replaces passwords and PINs with an image-based system requiring users to select a picture and four specific points on that picture that must be tapped in sequence to login to their online accounts.
The company says it takes on average just 10 seconds for a user to login and one minute to register and has a login success rate three times higher than for passwords.
“For everyone who has been locked out of their online banking for guessing their logins one too many times it’s clear that the passwords and PINs we’re forced to use aren’t fit for purpose,” saysid Yoshitaka Kitao, president & CEO of SBI Holdings “PixelPin’s solution creates a highly personalised and easy-to-use login experience that will be particularly popular with a tech-first younger generation but does this without compromising security - in fact, making it much more secure than passwords. In addition we see real potential for businesses to create value added services on this platform, turning security into a revenue generator.”