TOKYO, April 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Authlete, the leader in implementing the latest digital identity and API security standards, announced today that it has raised approximately US$4M (500 million Japanese yen) in Series A funding from SBI Digital Asset Holdings (SBI DAH), part of the Japanese conglomerate SBI Group. Authlete will use the funds to accelerate its global expansion, develop new products, and explore new industries in partnership with SBI DAH.

Authlete is a pioneer in providing services related to OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect (OIDC), two industry standards that enable secure API authorization and identity federation. This is a critical component as every service provider will become an API provider to engage their business partners. “Authlete is the OAuth/OIDC Component as a Service solution, that provides core functionality of OAuth and OIDC as API components,” said Takahiko Kawasaki, co-founder and representative director of Authlete. “Our unique approach has been adopted by enterprise customers in financial services, e-commerce, healthcare, media, B2B SaaS etc., and we are the industry leader in implementing the latest OAuth/OIDC specifications, including being the first in the world to receive all Certified FAPI and FAPI-CIBA OpenID Providers certifications.”

Open banking / open finance is one of the most notable industry trends, establishing a “financial API ecosystem” around the world. Authlete has many customers in the financial services sector, including the world’s largest digital bank in Brazil and the first digital bank in Japan amongst others. Authlete has also contributed to the OpenID Foundation in the United States in developing its OpenID Certification test suite, which is the de-facto standard for open banking / open finance ecosystems to validate whether banks’ API security standards are adequately implemented. In other words, Authlete is virtually the reference implementation for all banks in open banking / open finance ecosystems worldwide. “Some countries, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), are actively embracing the open banking movement. Authlete is one of the leading services that can provide these emerging ecosystems with the expertise in collaborating with the OpenID Foundation, as well as the Authlete solution that has been proven in the real world. We are in a perfect position to expand our business globally,” said Ali Adnan, co-founder and director of Authlete.

Some business domains are gaining momentum requiring the next-generation identity/API standards and frameworks. For example, gaming and metaverse industries have a critical need for “assured identity” because the cyberspace they provide is now another real space, and digital identities must be backed by real-world entities.

“We run digital asset-related businesses globally and envision several potential opportunities across several sectors, from Banking to the Metaverse, including digital wallets. We are familiar with Authlete as an existing commercial partner of SBI Digitrust. With this investment we aim to significantly expand our partnership to realise its full potential” said Fernando Luis Vazquez Cao, CEO of SBI DAH. “We look forward to working with Authlete to open new markets and add new standards with their cutting-edge technology.”

About Authlete

Authlete, Inc. was established by Takahiko Kawasaki et al. in 2015. The Authlete solution provides essential security features for all APIs, as a software component. Service providers in all industries, from financial institutions such as banks and securities firms to media and e-commerce, can quickly and securely implement API access authorization (OAuth 2.0) and identity federation (OpenID Connect) capabilities by integrating Authlete into their services. Authlete is available as a SaaS offering, allowing its customers to always use the latest industry-standard API security specifications.

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About SBI Digital Asset Holdings

SBI Digital Asset Holdings endeavors to bring innovation to the financial industry by building an ecosystem for issuance, custody, management, and liquidity for digital assets. SBI Digital Asset Holdings, via SBI group companies, has strong links with other group investments such as Ripple, R3, B2C2, Securitize, Elliptic and has inroads to banking and securities infrastructure across Asia with businesses in Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Cambodia. SBI DAH has investments in key portfolio companies including Sygnum, Boerse Stuttgart Digital Exchange, Lancium, and Tangem among others. Through SBI Digital Markets and Asia Digital Exchange, the group is growing its presence in the region to help shape the digital asset ecosystem and contribute towards making Singapore one of the world’s leading digital asset hubs.

The SBI Group is a leading financial conglomerate based in Japan. The SBI Group’s core businesses include Financial Services Business, Asset Management Business, Investment Business and Crypto-asset Business, and Non-financial Business. In addition, it is one of the largest Japanese private equity firms and leverages its extensive eco-system to further drive the value of its investments.

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Authlete Media Contact:

Tatsuo Kudo
Hiroko Soga