Dashlane Raises $100M, Names New CMO

Credential and digital identity management solution company Dashlane announced Thursday (May 30) it raised $110 million in funding and appointed Joy Howard as chief marketing officer.

In a press release, Dashlane said the Series D funding round was led by Sequoia Capital, with Jim Goetz of Sequoia joining the company’s board of directors. Existing investors Rho Ventures, FirstMark Capital, and Bessemer Venture Partners also participated in the round. Proceeds from the funding round will go to enhance Dashlane’s core product, add new capabilities and build its brand. According to Dashlane, the funding comes at a time when the need to protect data is heightened. With consumers and companies moving data to the cloud, passwords and logins become their only protection from hackers. Most people have less than stellar password habits, making them easy targets for hackers. According to Dashlane, password-related attacks are to blame for more than two-thirds of all data breaches.

“While most people are not aware of the magnitude of these issues, an entire economy is booming and growing in sophistication around harvesting and weaponizing stolen credentials, with participation from nation-states and cybercriminals,” Goetz, a partner at Sequoia, said in the press release. “We believe this category has the potential to one day surpass anti-virus in size, and we are excited to partner with the emerging market leader as they create and grow the category.”

As for the appointment of Howard, Dashline called her a world-class marketer and brand strategist. She is coming from Lyft, where she served as CMO. Howard will join Dashlane in August and will oversee the global marketing functions as well as all policy related initiatives. Prior to Lyft, Howard held leadership roles at Sonos, Patagonia, Nike and Coca-Cola.

“For years the tech community has maintained that people don’t care enough about their digital security to invest in real protection,” said Howard. “We don’t believe this is true. Dashlane is a powerful yet simple tool that empowers users to control their digital identities. I look forward to helping them build a world-class brand and a company that makes digital life worry-free for everyone.”