Mastercard Invests in Authentication Startup Hypr

EXCLUSIVE – Authentication solution provider Hypr has received a sizable investment from Mastercard to expand its technology to Mastercard’s ecosystem as well as major banks and financial institutions.

The New York-based Hypr announced today that it received an additional $2 million on a Series A funding, first announced in October 2017. Today’s round was led by Mastercard, while the initial $8 million funding round was led by RRE Ventures.

Established in 2014, Hypr offers decentralized authentication solutions to mobile payment companies, financial institutions, banks, insurance companies etc. It provides technology for consumer data to be stored on the consumer’s devices as opposed to a centralized data repository, something that is becoming increasingly relevant to the world today, according to Hypr CEO George Avetisov.

“At the core of all these major data breaches, be it Equifax, Home Depot or whatever, the main issue is the centralization of data,” Avetisov told Bank Innovation. “This is the number one problem for all these breaches.”

Hypr, on the other hand, provides technology so that the data is stored on the consumer’s devices (mobile, computer, etc.) and requires the consumer to authenticate access to that data. That authentication can be in the form of biometrics, PINs, passwords, or other methods. Does this sound like blockchain? HYPR also has a foot in that space.

“More and more enterprises are seeking decentralized authentication to reduce these risks, so user credentials always remain on the user’s device and allows them to lower the risk of a major breaches and fraud risks, as well as lowers their cost of IT and infrastructure,” he said.

With this new round of funding, Hypr hopes to expand its partnerships with major banks, financial institutions, mobile payment and insurance companies “any major enterprise that deals with payments,” Avetisov said.

Partnering with Mastercard allows them to pursue this goal, given Mastercard’s expansive network, as well as its efforts to expand beyond card payments, Avetisov said.

“Mastercard has a number of mobile and banking initiatives beyond card payment,” he said. “Whether its mobile wallets or other methods, their strategy is to move beyond card and that’s where we come in – to help them secure those types of payments, our technology will help them leverage these products.”

The first area Hypr will focus is mobile payments and then it will gradually expand into other online banking features, merchant services and various IoT initiatives, he said.

With today’s round of funding, Hypr’s total funding is at $14 million. Other investors include RRE, RTP, Boldstart and Mesh Ventures.

To learn more about the latest developments in P2P payments and mobile banking, join us on March 5-6, 2018 at the Parc 55 in San Francisco for Bank Innovation 2018. Click here to register.