Axiad Raises $25M in Private Equity Round from Invictus Growth Partners

Funds Will Accelerate the Growth and Expansion of the Identity Security Company, Including Driving Product Innovation, Hiring Top Talent and Advancing the FedRAMP Certification Process

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – July 30, 2024 – Axiad, an identity-first enabler of the zero-trust enterprise, today announced it has raised $25 million in funding from Invictus Growth Partners (“Invictus”). The investment funds will be used primarily to fuel product development innovation, hire additional top talent, bolster sales and marketing efforts, and aid in the company’s journey to achieve Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP®) Authority to Operate (ATO). The current round brings the company’s total capital raised to $45 million, which includes Invictus’s previous $20 million private equity investment in 2021.“According to an IDSA survey, 91% of organizations experienced an identity-based attack in 2024, and while multifactor authentication (MFA) has been around for decades, most implementations are weak and do not provide true phishing resistance,” said David Canellos, CEO of Axiad. “This latest funding round from Invictus further demonstrates its confidence in our mission in the identity security space, which is to enable enterprises and government organizations to deliver an identity-first zero-trust future through advanced authentication solutions, including phishing-resistant MFA, that will help better protect our rapidly growing customer base.”The funding news comes on the heels of Axiad’s announcement last week that a federal agency has agreed to sponsor Axiad and its flagship product, Axiad Cloud, to finalize its progress through the FedRAMP process. Axiad Cloud provides an advanced authentication toolset to customers, including federal government agencies, that combines MFA, cloud-based PKI and robust credential management that utilizes x.509 certificates and FIDO passkeys. The toolset helps organizations deploy and manage strong authentication processes across people, non-human identities and applications without replacing existing systems, resulting in lower IT costs, happier users and increased security by protecting organizations against identity-based attacks.“Axiad is a trusted leader in the identity security market, and this additional investment will drive continued innovation for our customers and the industry overall,” said John DeLoche, co-founder of Invictus and a member of Axiad’s board of directors. “David has brought exceptional leadership, vision and new operating talent to the company, and we look forward to working with him to successfully execute on Axiad’s growth strategy.”The investment also builds on the company’s recent momentum of the appointments of Alex Au Yeung as chief product officer and Sergey Starzhinskiy as vice president of systems engineering, who are both continuing to drive Axiad’s identity-first product direction and innovation, as well as the aforementioned announcement of a new federal agency customer and FedRAMP sponsor.About AxiadAxiad delivers identity-first authentication technologies that help organizations secure people, machines and applications. Axiad’s customers in the federal government, finance and banking, healthcare, manufacturing and technology sectors optimize existing cybersecurity investments while navigating modern IT complexities like disparate identity and access (IAM) solutions, a mix of cloud, on-prem and hybrid infrastructures, and regulatory requirements like FedRAMP, CMMC and AAL3. The company’s flagship offering, Axiad Cloud, provides an advanced authentication toolset that allows organizations to manage strong authentication processes without replacing existing systems. Axiad Cloud combines multifactor authentication, cloud-based PKI and robust credential management utilizing x.509 certificates and FIDO passkeys, while supporting the widest range of credentials in the industry, including FIDO, mobile MFA, Windows Hello for Business, YubiKeys, smart cards, TPM and biometrics. With Axiad Cloud, customers benefit from lower IT costs, increased user satisfaction and continual mitigation of identity-based attacks. Visit axiad.com to learn more.About Invictus Growth PartnersInvictus Growth Partners is a buyout and growth equity firm that invests in outstanding bootstrapped and capital efficient, automation-enabled cloud software, cybersecurity and fintech companies that seek capital and strategic resources to accelerate their growth. The firm and all its professionals are based in San Mateo, CA. Please visit at invictusgrowth.com.Media Contacts:Meghan LockeThree Rings Inc.413-627-5335axiad@threeringsinc.com