Signalling his need for speed(boats), former Sun Microsystems CTO Lasse Andresen reveals IndyKite, reels in $2.5 million in pre-seed funding

Seeking to provide the identity layer for the decentralised web, Norway/San Francisco-based IndyKite emerges from stealth in conjunction with the announcement of a $2.5 million pre-seed funding round.

The open-source technology helps developers map out every person, device, and asset across an organisation or network and uses this data to deliver personalisation and authorisation services. In a decentralised data, edge security, computer vision, and digital twins world, IndyKite’s platform is designed to deliver an ultra-personalised user experience, recommendations, and discovery, all while retaining privacy in a compliant, confidential, and secure manner.

“No one has an identity on the Internet except what is created by governments or inside those private social databases. I want to own my digital identity. IndyKite will help me keep control of who uses it, and how.“ says Scott McNealy, Sun Microsystems co-founder and a formal advisor to IndyKite.

Now it’s no secret that identity and access management platforms and services are a hot ticket. IPOs from Okta, Ping Identity, and ForgeRock (did I mention IndyKite founder Lasse Andresen also co-founded ForgeRock?) spring to mind. Meanwhile, IndyKite is bringing its own approach to the table, namely that of recognising that data-rich Web3 will see the need for devices, robots, and data itself all to have their own identities.

Andresen comments, “In the near future, an IoT device could ‘learn’ its access controls directly from the network it connects to, without needing someone to manually configure its access controls. This intelligence can also be applied to improve human identity access controls.”

The startup is going all-in on computer vision, and has already formed a strategic technology partnership with RealNetworks' SAFR.

“RealNetworks’ visual intelligence technology specializes in face and person-based computer vision, so there’s real value in partnering with an identity-focused company like Indykite,” explains Andresen.

Both Alliance Venture and Speedinvest co-led the $2.5 million pre-seed round.

“IndyKite's product shifts identity access management from a world full of technologies built on rigid data structures to one that can dynamically deal with data generated from billions of human and non-human entities,” adds Speedinvest’s co-founder and managing partner Oliver Holle.