Two-factor authentication firm Clef lands $1.6M, integrates with Touch ID

Two-factor authentication company Clef just raised a $1.6 million dollar round, according to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Clef stands apart from other two-factor authentication services by using barcode technology rather than password and PIN. Most two-factor authentication, like what Google and Twitter use, requires you sign in as you normally would with a username and password then input a rotating four-digit pin that’s been sent to your mobile phone by the application. With Clef, your phone scans a barcode that appears on your computer screen instead of a traditional username and password.

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Clef does away with usernames and passwords for 16,000 sites. It also plans to do away with the PIN in a new integration with Apple’s Touch ID finger print reader. To use Clef, you log into the mobile phone app with a PIN or fingerprint and then scan the barcode. The application certainly has a certain James Bond element to it, but I see some hurdles in using this authenticator. The application only works in Google’s Chrome browser and requires a plugin called Waltz for certain sites like Facebook.

Cofounder Brennen Byrne says the reason Clef’s authentication process is clunkier on Waltz is because that is an open-source project developed by a community of early Clef adopters, who wanted to be able to use the technology on more sites.

“They wanted to use Clef on Facebook, so they built Waltz. It’s a great tool but it’s not perfect yet and for exactly that reason,” Byrne said.

Clef works fine on sites it directly integrates with, like WordPress. Byrne hopes that with this new round of funding, the company will be able to foster more partnerships with more companies and direct integration with their sites. The company’s app is available on both Android and iOS.

Former Yahoo exec Ash Patel’s Morado Ventures led the round, which also saw investment from a variety of angels.