Hypr nets $30M investment to beef up security against threat of generative AI

June 5, 2024

21 2 minutes read

HYPR has scored a major cash infusion from Silver Lake Waterman, announcing a $30 million investment to accelerate the development of cryptographic technologies that can defend against generative AI-driven credential-based attacks.

A release says the investment adds validation for Hypr’s passwordless authentication tools to a list of recent strategic partnerships with and large-scale deployments by Fortune 50 enterprises. In 2023, Hypr increased passkey usage among the workforces of its customers by 77 percent over the previous year. A strong 367 percent year-over-year growth in consumer passkey deployments among Hypr customers was driven by major deployments for large banking and healthcare clients.

The New York firm recently announced integration capabilities with CrowdStrike, Microsoft and Yubico’s Yubikey to provide joint customers with FIDO certified multi-factor authentication, leveraging existing strategic alliances with Okta, Ping Identity, Idemia and others.

“Hypr’s innovative approach to identity assurance and proactive stance against the growing threats posed by generative AI is a testament to their leadership in this critical field,” says Shawn O’Neill, managing director at Silver Lake Waterman. Hypr “continues to rapidly gain momentum in key vertical markets, solidifying its position as a trusted provider of identity solutions in energy, automotive, healthcare, education, government and financial services.”

Hypr’s research shows that 60 percent of organizations name generative AI as the biggest identity security concern. Deepfake scams abound. Despite the majority, vulnerable legacy approaches to security linger, including “phishable” authentication methods such as passwords or knowledge-based identity verification.

As a potential solution, Hypr recently released its Hypr Affirm product, billed as “the industry’s first unified identity verification solution.” Affirm offers AI-powered chat, video and facial recognition for customer and employee passwordless ID verification.