Dashlane Raises $22.5 Million in Series C Funding; Announces Strategic Partnership with TransUnion
NEW YORK – Dashlane, an award-winning password manager and leader in online identity management, announces the closing of $22.5 million in a Series C round of funding. The round is led by TransUnion (NYSE: TRU), a global leader in information solutions, including credit monitoring and identity protection, and also includes participation from previous investors Rho Ventures, FirstMark Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners. The round brings Dashlane’s total funding to date to $52.5 million.
“Today marks an important milestone in our path forward as an identity management company,” said Emmanuel Schalit, CEO of Dashlane. “Our mission has always been to make identity and payments simple and secure everywhere. This new round of funding, combined with the strategic relationship with TransUnion, will strengthen our ability to achieve this vision by giving us the capital to accelerate our roadmap, as well as the ability to further integrate new powerful services for our users.”
The friction and security challenges of digital identity lie as much in logins and passwords as in the way individuals provide their payment information to digital merchants and services. Consumers are worried about their payment details being stolen when they buy online and frustrated when they see valid transactions being declined. This new round of funding and strategic additions to the board will increase Dashlane’s ability to solve these core challenges of digital identity for both consumers and businesses.
Dashlane and TransUnion will work together to create innovative services for their respective customers. These integrated services will focus on credit monitoring, identity and fraud protection, credit information and breaches. TransUnion will also help Dashlane expand its distribution through its multiple partner channels in the U.S. and globally. As part of the round, John Danaher, president of TransUnion Consumer Interactive, will join Dashlane’s board.
“We are impressed by Dashlane’s capabilities from a product and technology standpoint,” said Danaher. “Dashlane’s mission is straightforward, and the company is uniquely positioned to benefit from the ever-increasing need for simple, secure digital identity solutions. We feel TransUnion, with its vast array of credit and identity protection services and its global consumer reach, can help accelerate Dashlane’s growth even further.”
The round of funding comes as Dashlane is expanding its network of partnerships with large financial institutions. Dashlane recently announced a partnership with Banamex, the largest bank in Mexico and a subsidiary of Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C), and will announce more partnerships with leading banks and payment networks in the coming months.
The company can also announce that Carl Pascarella, former CEO of Visa Inc. (NYSE: V), has joined its board as an independent director. “Dashlane’s ability to facilitate payments and help reduce fraud is uniquely relevant for financial institutions,” said Pascarella. “I am excited to have an opportunity to lend my experience to help the team at Dashlane accomplish their vision for secure information and online payments.” On the addition of Mr. Pascarella, Dashlane CEO Emmanuel Schalit states,” Carl immediately understood the potential we had to make checkout easier and more secure. His decades of experience, including 12 years as CEO of Visa, and his unique network will allow us to make an impact in the financial services world.”
Dashlane, which launched its product in April 2012, was the first company to introduce numerous innovations in digital identity management, such as secure password sharing, emergency access, and its landmark Password Changer. In the past few months the company has expanded the capabilities of its product to serve the needs of the business world and will introduce more business-focused services in the near future.
Dashlane helps more than 5 million consumers in over 150 countries manage their digital identities. The company has also facilitated $5.5 billion in e-commerce transactions to date.
Dashlane makes identity and checkouts simple with its password manager and secure digital wallet app. Dashlane allows its users to securely manage passwords, credit cards, IDs, and other important information via advanced encryption and local storage. Dashlane has helped over 5 million users manage and secure their digital identity. The app is available on PC, Mac, Android, and iOS, and has won critical acclaim from top publications, including: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.
Dashlane is free to use on one device, and Dashlane Premium costs $39.99/year to sync between an unlimited number of devices. Dashlane was founded by Bernard Liautaud and co-founders Alexis Fogel, Guillaume Maron, and Jean Guillou. The company has offices in New York City and Paris and has received $30 million in funding from Rho Ventures, FirstMark Capital, and Bessemer Venture Partners. Learn more at Dashlane.com.
About TransUnion (NYSE: TRU)
Information is a powerful thing. At TransUnion, we realize that. We are dedicated to finding innovative ways information can be used to help individuals make better and smarter decisions. We help uncover unique stories, trends and insights behind each data point, using historical information as well as alternative data sources. This allows a variety of markets and businesses to better manage risk and consumers to better manage their credit, personal information and identity. Today, TransUnion has a global presence in more than 30 countries and a leading presence in several international markets across North America, Africa, Latin America and Asia. Through the power of information, TransUnion is working to build stronger economies and families and safer communities worldwide.
We call this Information for GoodSM. www.transunion.com
About Bessemer Venture Partners
Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) invests in early-stage, hyper-growth startups, partnering closely with entrepreneurs to build durable businesses. BVP is a global firm with offices in Menlo Park, Cambridge, New York, Mumbai, Bangalore, Herzliya, and Sao Paulo. With $4.5 billion under management, BVP invests anywhere from $100,000 to $75 million in innovative companies like LinkedIn, Yelp, Skype, CornerstoneOnDemand, Pinterest, Box, and Twilio. Over 100 BVP companies have gone public. Learn more at bvp.com and follow us on Twitter @BessemerVP.
About First Mark Capital
Based in New York City, FirstMark Capital invests in ground-breaking companies that are creating new markets with innovative technology solutions or fundamentally changing existing markets by applying a fresh approach and new business model. A venture leader with more than $2 billion in capital commitments, FirstMark's team of investment and operations professionals have decades of real-world experience and leadership in core technology markets, making the firm uniquely qualified to offer industry insight, relationships and the operational expertise to build lasting businesses. Select historical investments include: Riot Games (Acquired by Tencent Holdings); Duck Creek Technologies (Acquired by Accenture); Netgear (NASDAQ: NTGR); Boomi (Acquired by Dell); First Advantage (Acquired by First American Corporation); StubHub (Acquired by eBay); Netegrity (Acquired by CA); Flarion (Acquired by Qualcomm); OutlookSoft (Acquired by SAP); Vallent (Acquired by IBM); and Navic Networks (Acquired by Microsoft). Current investments include: SecondMarket, Knewton, Pinterest, OpenGamma, Shopify and Lumos Labs. For more information, please visit: www.firstmarkcap.com.
About Rho Ventures
Rho Ventures (www.rho.com) has a multi-stage investing strategy focused on high-growth companies in large markets. Rho Ventures' investments span new media, healthcare, IT, communications, energy technology and other disruptive technologies. Rho Ventures brings nearly 30 years of venture experience, combined with its partners' deep sector expertise and its far-reaching network to assist each portfolio company. This approach has allowed Rho to participate in the growth of some of today's most innovative and successful companies, including Active Power, Capstone Turbine, Ciena, Compaq Computer, EverydayHealth.com, Gloucester Pharmaceuticals, Human Genome Sciences, IntraLinks, iVillage, MedImmune, ReachLocal, Shire Pharmaceuticals and Tacoda. Rho Ventures is currently investing from Rho Ventures VI, a $510 million fund. The firm has offices in Palo Alto, Calif., New York and Montreal, with investments across the globe.
