[Funding alert] StartupXseed invests Rs 5.5 Cr in password-less authentication startup SAWO Labs

Sawo Labs, a Mumbai- based SaaS-powered one-tap authentication service, has raised Rs 5.5 crore closing its seed funding round. The round was led by StartupXseed, thereby increasing the startup’s valuation to Rs 28 crore.

SAWO Labs was one of the nine pre-seed stage startups that 100x.VC invested in September 2020 as a part of its Class 02 Portfolio. 

Commenting on the funding round, Prabhat Sahu, Founder and CEO, SAWO Labs, said, “At SAWO, we are singularly focused on revolutionising the global authentication landscape. We aim to make ultramodern security protocols an integral part of contemporary digital experiences, saving millions of man-hours of the end-users. The confidence that StartupXseed and 100x.VC have displayed in our approach is a testament to the fact that we are on the right path. SAWO is grateful to everyone whose efforts have led to a successful closure of our seed funding round. I would also like to extend a special thanks to our strategic advisory firm Vasan&Sampath for its remarkable contributions throughout.”

Started early this year, SAWO, or Secure Authentication Without OTP, is a paradigm-changing authentication service that introduces high-end security protocols in the touch-of-a-button format. The platform leverages SSL (Secured Sockets Layer) of Mongo DB as well as FIDO protocol to simplify user verification across web, cloud, on-premises applications, VPNs, and remote access gateways.

The platform claims to maintain a high level of security with easy-to-integrate service that has been compressed in a six-line code. It further brings down the cost of authentication to a quarter of what businesses incur at present.

According to a statement by the company, the capital raised will be used by SAWO to strengthen its business by expanding its tech infrastructure and outreach - saving millions of man-hours of the end-users. The startup also plans to utilise the funds in further strengthening its product portfolio and developing next-gen OTP-less and password-less tools based out of India. This includes Robo identification and password-less consumer onboarding tools.

Ravi Thakur, Co-founding Partner, StartupXseed Ventures further added,

“This is the first investment of our second fund and we are excited to have invested in a great team like SAWO. It’s been a great learning for us to find startups during the pandemic time and we are overwhelmed to have found SAWO.”