TypingDNA raises $7 million

Behavioral-biometrics company TypingDNA has raised a $7 million Series A round led by Gradient Ventures, Google’s AI-focused venture fund. Other participants include EU-based fund GapMinder, Techstars Ventures and other prior investors.

Founded in 2016, TypingDNA has developed “proprietary artificial intelligence algorithms” to authenticate users based on how they type. Through a training process of watching user keystrokes, TypingDNA can recognize further attempts from a specific user by matching them against their known account. This technology, known as typing biometrics, will enable existing applications such as authentication, fraud detection, password recovery, and online education assessment to fingerprint users more securely than traditional forms of two-factor authentication.

“Advancing the research and distribution of typing biometrics is of global importance. Keyboards are incorporated in almost any device today, making typing behavior the most widely available user biometric. This round of funding will allow us to further our mission to provide user-friendly, non-intrusive biometrics and increased security to people around the world.” – Raul Popa, CEO and cofounder at TypingDNA.

“We’re excited about TypingDNA’s developer-first approach to enable people to authenticate securely based on how they type. With global regulation impacting face-recognition-based authentication and hackers targeting SMS-based two-factor authentication, typing biometrics is the best form of identifying people without compromising privacy or security.” – Darian Shirazi, General Partner at Gradient Ventures.