1Kosmos: Doubling Down on the Future of Secure Digital Identity

I’m thrilled to announce that Forgepoint Capital is leading 1Kosmos’s $57 million Series B funding round alongside Oquirrh Ventures and Origami Capital with participation from Craig Abod, Founder and President of Carahsoft, NextEra Energy Ventures, Gula Tech Adventures, and the 1Kosmos management team.

Identity security for enterprise workers, customers, and citizens

Identity is the perimeter. Compromised credentials enable attackers to take over accounts, steal sensitive data, commit fraud, and disrupt business systems. Companies must strengthen authentication and close verification gaps- without overburdening users with complex onboarding, login, and password experiences.

1Kosmos enables the complete identity journey with a unified platform for identity proofing, credential verification, and authentication. Purpose-built for workers, customers, and citizens, the 1Kosmos platform effectively protects against identity threats- including emerging AI-enabled synthetic identity and deepfake fraud- with a frictionless user experience and high compliance standards to maximize privacy.

Early traction and a successful Series A round

Forgepoint Capital has a longtime connection to 1Kosmos that predates the company’s founding. Forgepoint Co-Founder and Managing Director Alberto Yépez, a serial entrepreneur in the cybersecurity and identity space, has known 1Kosmos CEO and Co-Founder Hemen Vimadalal throughout Hemen’s entrepreneurial journey- from his founding of Vaau (acquired by Sun Microsystems) and Simeio to his strategic investments in cybersecurity companies including BrinQa, Securonix, and Saviynt.

When Hemen and his co-founders launched 1Kosmos in 2018 to solve accelerating identity verification and authentication needs for distributed workforces, we began keeping a close eye on the nascent and ambitious company. By 2020, 1Kosmos had successfully bootstrapped to secure a roster of sophisticated enterprise customers including Jefferies and Hitachi. When Hemen approached us to discuss investment, we were deeply impressed by the company’s strong customer base, unique standards-based architecture and distributed ledger infrastructure, and market potential. We proudly led 1Kosmos’s $15M Series A funding round in 2021 to help accelerate the company’s product roadmap.

Maturing into an identity security market leader

1Kosmos has since experienced explosive growth. Led by Hemen and a strong executive team, the company has attracted seasoned identity security experts in India, North America, EMEA, and beyond to fuel expansion in the identity security market.

This global team has made significant progress in the company’s product R&D and product-market fit. 1Kosmos now manages over 50 million identities and enables more than 1 billion authentications. Major enterprises including Concentrix, Staples, Bell, and Vodafone trust 1Kosmos to secure digital identities for their users. 1Kosmos has become a market leader in the $18.4B identity verification market- expected to grow to $50B+ by 2030- with recent accolades including recognition as an Overall Leader, Product Leader, and Innovation Leader in identity verification by analyst firm KuppingerCole.

Meeting the demand for enhanced federal and SLED identity security

After 3x’ing ARR and doubling its customer base in 2024, 1Kosmos is on track to double ARR in 2025. This remarkable track record proves its repeatable go-to-market motion, with continued forward momentum.

Looking ahead, a major growth area for 1Kosmos is in securing identities for U.S. citizens through federal, state, local, and education (SLED) organizations. The company has built a dedicated federal go-to-market team and recently achieved FedRAMP High Authorization– the highest level of security compliance under the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP)- in addition to partnering with Carahsoft to secure a $194.5 million blanket purchase agreement to enhance security for Login.gov, the U.S. federal government’s trusted authentication platform. This expansion into the federal and SLED space is bolstered by 1Kosmos’s ecosystem of support, which includes an advisory board comprised of world-renowned cybersecurity and federal government leaders.

Securing the future of digital identity

Forgepoint is thrilled to double down and continue our partnership with 1Kosmos as the company innovates around critical identity security needs. We look forward to working alongside the 1Kosmos team as they lead the way to secure the future of digital identity.