According to a press release just out, “ID.me, Inc., a 2013 WSJ “Startup of the Year” finalist and leader in the digital identity space, completed a Series A fundraising round of $10 million led by USAA, Silicon Valley Bank, and notable angel investors including David Tisch’s Box Group, Kelly Perdew, K Street Capital, and Blu Venture Investors.
The D.C.-based technology startup will use the capital – consisting of $7.5 million in equity and $2.5 million in venture debt – for marketing and product development efforts to meet the high demand for its solutions from top brands like Sears Holdings Corp. and Overstock.com, Inc.
The financing will add to the more than $6 million that ID.me has raised since its founding in 2010.
Additionally, ID.me received more than $2 million in federal grant funding from the President’s National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, a program administered by the Department of Commerce that funds the top identity companies in America to increase trust in digital identities. As part of the investment, USAA’s Head of Corporate Development, Victor Pascucci, will join ID.me’s board.
Former Army Rangers Blake Hall and Matt Thompson founded ID.me to help brands market to specific communities via digital channels. They developed a real-time, digital verification service to ensure customers claiming exclusive offers online – like military and student discounts – were eligible. Within 18 months of launching military rewards programs powered by ID.me, top retailers like Under Armour Inc. and Overstock.com reported significant increases in incremental e-commerce revenue and new customers. Today, ID.me has a growing portfolio of more than 60 national brand partners.
“ID.me has a simple mission: to make the web a more trusted place by increasing transparency between organizations and consumers through secure, digital ID cards,” said ID.me CEO Blake Hall. “USAA is one of the most trusted brands in the world because of their unwavering commitment to serving their members, the U.S. military and their families. We’re looking forward to working with USAA so that military families may access the benefits they’ve earned – online and offline – in a secure and privacy-enhancing manner.”
About ID.me
ID.me is the first digital identity network that allows consumers to prove who they are online while controlling how their information is shared with brands. For participating organizations, ID.me acts as a trusted intermediary, capable of verifying consumer identity and group affiliations in real-time. This allows brands to ensure a consistent customer experience across offline and online channels while reducing costs and security risks associated with manual verification. For more information, please visit: http://www.ID.me
