Jan 19, 2022

Article content Hollywood stars including Ryan Reynolds, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Jr and Ashton Kutcher also participated in one of the largest rounds in the security funding space that valued the company at US$6.8 billion. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. Try refreshing your browser, or Toronto-based 1Password raises US$620 million, valuing it at US$6.8 billion Back to video The funding comes at a time the pandemic-driven work-from-home trend nears two years, during which 1Password more than tripled its headcount to cater to companies’ increased data security challenges. The company expects to double its headcount of about 570 this year, Chief Executive Officer Jeff Shiner said, as it looks to further capitalize on growing cybersecurity needs. 1Password will use the new funds to develop and scale human-centric security solutions and help people easily protect their most sensitive data and information. Advertisement Article content The 16-year-old company had raised US$100 million in July last year, valuing it at US$2 billion, in a funding round backed by Meta Platforms Inc and Spotify investor Accel Partners. 1Password ‘s technology makes it easier for employees to log into their company systems, while providing employers visibility into what apps workers download without permission from their IT teams. When employees leave the company the tech makes it easy to ensure they don’t have access to the company systems. 1Password had started out as a consumer password management app, and expanded into building a product for businesses in 2015 that now accounts for a large chunk of its revenue. Its roster of clients includes IBM Corp, workplace messaging app Slack and Shopify Inc. Advertisement Article content “Our mission has always been to ease the tension between security and convenience, and the opportunity to deliver on this has never been bigger for 1Password ,” Shiner added. According to the 2020 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, 85 per cent of all company data breaches involved a human element, underscoring the need to design security products around individuals, not infrastructure, the statement added. The company said Tiger Global, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Accel also joined the latest funding round. Tiger Global has been heavily betting on tech startups to cash in on upcoming market winners and potentially reap greater returns. © Thomson Reuters 2022