Beyond Identity Secures $100 Million in Funding, Reaches $1.1 Billion Valuation

Beyond Identity has secured a $100 million Series C funding round, raising its total funding to $205 million and increasing its valuation to $1.1 billion.

Evolution Equity Partners led the Beyond Identity funding round, with existing investors New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Jim Clark participating. Potentum Partners, Expanding Capital and HBAM also joined the round.

The new funding will be used to further expand Beyond Identity’s research and development. The company will also extend its footprint and resources into Asia-Pacific and Latin America.

Beyond Identity Funding to Benefit Partners

Kurt Johnson is Beyond Identity‘s vice president of strategy and business development.

Beyond Identity’s Kurt Johnson

“In 2021, we spent a lot of time and investment on building out the foundation of our channel and partner program,” he said. “We signed on a number of strong partners, and are working to expand our visibility and presence within those partners. With the foundation now in place, our plan is to use this new funding to really drive additional joint lead-generation and go-to-market (GTM) programs. We are taking a channel-first approach. So as we identify potential targets, we will quickly align with the right channel partner to approach those customers together.”

Beyond Identity is investing in infrastructure such as a partner portal to make joint content more accessible, Johnson said.

“In addition to these marketing programs, we will be hiring additional channel account managers and dedicated technical resources,” he said. “We will also be investing in new partners as we expand further in Europe and the Middle East, then as we expand into Asia Pacific and Latin America.”

Partners Wanted

Beyond Identity is looking for channel partners who act as strategic advisers for their customers to help them identify the right solutions to meet their security requirements, Johnston said.

“Partners with strong security and identity management expertise are a strong fit for us,” he said. “We used the strategy as we launched in Europe to find strong distribution partners who can introduce us to resellers who are a strong fit to allow us to have local presence and relationships in the regions. This will be our plan for Asia Pacific and Latin America as well. We are looking to find partners in specific countries who can provide local pre-sales and post-sales support.”

Zero trust is a critical issue where partners need to understand who and what is behind access, Johnston said. Beyond Identity’s passwordless authentication provides phishing-resistant multifactor authentication (MFA).

“The increase in credential-based attacks and ransomware is a global issue,” he said. “The misuse and theft of valid credentials is a critical issue facing organizations. Beyond Identity has built the strongest authentication platform based on proven industry standards and made it easy for organizations to deploy. This is critical for organizations to build the proper defenses.”

Beyond Identity Funding ‘Great’ Endorsement from Investors

“This [funding] enables us to solve a global issue with the product, resources, infrastructure and partners to meet our customers global needs,” Johnson said. “The funding is a great endorsement from our investors on the market need and the ability for Beyond Identity to build a great company and solution. We look forward to more of that success in the future.”

Beyond Identity’s new funding comes at a time of record growth and momentum for the company. Annual recurring revenue (ARR) rose 330% from 2020 to 2021. In addition, its roster of customers grew 640%.