Bitwarden, an open supply password supervisor for enterprises and shoppers, has raised $100 million in a spherical of funding led by PSG, with participation from Battery Ventures.
Based initially again in 2015, Santa Barbara, California-based Bitwarden operates in an area that features well-known incumbents resembling 1Password, which recently hit a $6.8 billion valuation off the back of a $620 million fundraise, and LastPass, which was recently spun out as an unbiased firm once more two years after landing in the hands of personal fairness companies.
In a nutshell, Bitwarden and its ilk make it simpler for folks to generate hard-to-guess passwords mechanically, and retailer all of them in a safe digital vault — it’s all about serving to folks keep away from reusing the identical predictable password throughout all their on-line accounts.
On high of its primary free service, which supplies people entry to limitless password storage throughout platforms, Bitwarden ships a bunch of paid-for premium instruments and companies, together with superior enterprise options like single sign-on (SSO) integrations and id administration. Bitwarden’s huge differentiator, in fact, lies in the truth that it’s constructed atop an open source codebase, which for tremendous security-conscious people and companies is an efficient factor, because it permits them to completely examine the inner-workings of the platform. Furthermore, folks can contribute again to the codebase and expedite improvement of recent options.
Bitwarden
Password hygiene
It’s price noting that right this moment’s “minority progress funding” represents Bitwarden’s first absolutely disclosed exterior funding in its seven yr historical past, although TechCrunch is reliably knowledgeable that the corporate did in reality elevate a hitherto undisclosed Sequence A spherical again in 2019.
Its newest money injection, nonetheless, is indicative of how the world has modified previously few years — the rise of distant work signifies that folks typically mesh private and work accounts on the identical gadgets, whereas they might use the identical password throughout their myriad on-line accounts. Such poor password hygiene places companies in danger, which is why they’re on the lookout for methods to encourage their workforce to make use of security-focused instruments resembling password managers as a substitute.
“Our funding in Bitwarden displays our conviction that the password administration market is poised for appreciable progress as on-line account use grows and safety issues mount within the hybrid working surroundings,” PSG managing director Tom Reardon famous in a press release.
Moreover, rising competitors and VC investments within the password administration realm signifies that Bitwarden can’t relaxation on its laurels — it must increase, and that’s what its funds shall be used for. The corporate confirmed plans to increase its providing into a number of aligned safety and privateness verticals, together with secrets and techniques administration — one thing that 1Password expanded into final yr via its SecretHub acquisition.
“The timing of the funding is good, as we increase into alternatives in developer secrets and techniques, passwordless applied sciences, and authentication,” Bitwarden CEO Michael Crandell stated. “Most significantly, we intention to proceed to serve all Bitwarden customers for the lengthy haul.”
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