Two security startups, which each spun out of other Portland-areas companies, are merging into a new firm with an identity management and security platform.
OneIDLab, which holds patents on a smart card technology developed when it was part of Tyfone, is combining with Tozny, an identity management and permissions software maker, that spun out of computer science research firm Galois. The merged company is taking the name Tozny Inc.
The company also revealed a $2.2 million seed round led by Rogue Venture Partners and Columbia Ventures Corp. The round also included prior investors in OneIDLab: In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of U.S. intelligence agencies, and Jaguar Land Rover.
“Our customers are increasingly asking for a risk informed integrated solution that doesn’t require a wholesale change in their IT infrastructure. Our integrated platform works with existing applications, and makes it much simpler for our customers to adopt and maintain a ‘Zero Trust’ posture that includes people, devices, applications and services,” said Jonathan DeHart, co-founder and CEO of Tozny, Inc. In a written statement.
In early 2021, DeHart spun OneIDLab out of the fintech company Tyfone. DeHart took 21 patents and the team behind smart card technology developed at Tyfone. The card acts as a security token to identify and authenticate people for security access.
What DeHart didn't bring with him, was a software team. As he reached out to his contacts in the industry he got in touch with Isaac Potoczny-Jones, CEO of encryption and identity management company Tozny.
“Isaac’s team is known in cybersecurity spaces,” said DeHart, adding that both teams had worked together previously and both have worked on projects for the government such as Defense Advanced Research Project Agency.
It was natural for the teams to combine, they said. In the new company Potoczny-Jones is co-founder and chief technology officer.
Tozny has a hardware and software platform that can be used by customers to secure identities for humans, devices and applications. The platform can manage identities, access control and security keys.
“Companies today have to pull in lots of solutions and integrate them themselves. There are holes hackers can get through,” said Potoczny-Jones. “This is integrated. We mange identities and manage the access and secure the data.”
He likened it to throwing a security blanket over an organization.
The company is targeting small and mid-sized businesses. In addition to selling directly to companies, Tozny is also targeting managed service providers who provide IT services to small and mid-sized businesses.
Current customers include Department of Defense, Jaguar Land Rover and DARPA.
Tozny has a team of 15 people and it is hiring. The company is looking for software engineers, marketing and sales and product management. DeHart expects the company to be about 22 people by the end of the year.
Post-merger the company has raised a total of $2.7 million from investors, with much that coming from OneIDLab.
However, between both companies, $10 million has been invested in technology development. This mostly came from non-dilutive government grants and projects on encryption and security.
The combined company is based in Camas where it has a small office. However, the team is distributed with most in the Portland metro.
