Biometrics technology tartup TypingDNA gets $1.5 million seed investment to accelerate international expansion and technology improvement

TypingDNA, a  Techstars-backed startup and the creator of award-winning typing biometrics technology, has raised $1.5M in seed round funding to improve their technology and expand their presence in the financial and enterprise sectors. TypingDNA will also build new partnerships and increase awareness of their passive online fraud prevention capabilities. The funding was led by European venture firm GapMinder Venture Partners, as well as several international investors from U.S., U.K., and European Union. The financing round also includes previous investor Gecad Ventures, Techstars NYC alumni and mentors fund, angel investors with network and domain expertise in banking, financial services, enterprise, AI and cybersecurity, as well as founders of hypergrowth startups DataDog, WayUp and UiPath.

Started in 2016 in Romania by entrepreneur and data scientist Raul Popa, TypingDNA is a Techstars NYC ‘18 company that provides typing biometrics authentication as a service, enabling companies recognize people by the way they type. TypingDNA Authentication API compares “how” people type on their keyboards against previous recordings. Main applicability is in passive fraud prevention and 2F. TypingDNA has clients in the U.S. and Europe. In 2018, the company began partnering with identity access management (IAM) providers and security companies. TypingDNA also works directly with banks and other financial service providers to improve online fraud detection.

TypingDNA is a behavioral biometrics SaaS company that offers highly accurate typing biometrics solutions. The company’s AI-based technology makes it easier to prevent fraudulent activity such as identity theft through keystroke dynamics. TypingDNA’s existing commercialized product recognizes people based on the way they type, which offers a non-obtrusive security measure that doesn’t require any special equipment. “We are now setting new standards in the industry,” says Raul Popa, CEO of TypingDNA. “Our goal is to be the number-one provider of typing biometrics technology. We are focused on striking more partnerships with major players in identity, authentication, two-factor authentication (2FA) and fraud prevention.”

TypingDNA recognizes people by the way they type on desktop keyboards and mobile devices. The company’s technology—known as typing biometrics—improves security through passive authentication and frictionless 2FA.

In just two years, the company has won a number of awards, including “Best Newcomer”, “Best Startup”, “Best Fintech Startup”, “Disrupt100” and “EUTop50”. Recently, TypingDNA launched a Chrome extension alternative to Google Authenticator that won ProductHunt Product of the Day.

“We are constantly looking in the areas which can make a strong statement in what we call change, and AI is one of the main areas where we put our eyes and money. TypingDNA biometrics technology is using proprietary pattern recognition, anomaly detection and one shot learning algorithms, adding a lot of value to the bottom line. We feel TypingDNA is at the forefront of the ‘AI-first’ wave,” says Cosmin Ochisor, Partner at GapMinder, a Seed and Series A fund focused on investing in innovative AI technologies developed in Eastern Europe.