TECH STARTUP FINALISES CAPITAL RAISING TO RAMP UP ROLL OUT OF ANTI-HACKING APPS

ANONYOME Labs, a company which has developed two apps that provide protection from online identity theft, has closed a $20.4 million capital raising and announced a new board member in the form of LifeLock founder Todd Davis.

The company, with twin head offices on the Gold Coast and in Salt Lake City, will use the capital to expand the business and grow its user base from its current 1.2 million.

"In a world where data breaches and egregious privacy violations are escalating, and governments have proved impotent to help, Anonyome is finally giving consumers the ability to be in control of all their personally identifiable and sensitive information," says Anonyome's CEO and cybersecurity veteran Steve Shillingford (pictured).

The two apps, SudoApp and SudoPay, are platforms that allow users to create up to nine avatars, or sudos, each with its own customisable name, email address and phone number which is encrypted to safeguard your data to provide security for your key personal information.

The apps are designed to prevent unauthorised use and abuse of your private information and identity which can be sold to marketers or hacked and sold to the black market.

"Our vision is a world liberated from bleak forecasts about the lack of safety on the Internet, excessive tracking and monitoring of your online activities, and invasive and ineffectual government legislation," Shillingford says.

"If you're fed up with the constant surveillance, credit card fraud, or the Googles of the world tracking everything you do, we have a simple and powerful way for you to take back control."

Existing investors, including Symantec CEO Greg Clark, Crosspoint Ventures founder John Mumford and new investors including Ariba co-founder Ken Eldred, Hanna Ventures and newly appointed board member and LifeLock founder Todd Davis, all took part in the funding round.

"I have seen, and been a part of, new technology offerings like identity protection that created new sectors and quickly became things we couldn't imagine living without," says Davis.

"I believe we are at a similar early chapter with Sudo. We will soon look back in disbelief on a time where we used to give up all of our personal information, and let others profit from it, just to get access to the applications, services and social networks we wanted to use."

Anonyome's SudoApp and SudoPay apps can be used separately or together, allowing consumers to call, text and email anyone and anywhere while having the control to purchase goods and services online without leaving any personal, private information that would be vulnerable to malicious hackers and trackers.

Anonyome Labs was launched in early 2014 by Shillingford, former CEO of Solera Networks, Greg Clark, current CEO of Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC), John Mumford, founder of Crosspoint Ventures, and Dr Paul Ashley, former lead architect for IBM'S Advanced Threat Protection platform.

The company has assembled a team with over 100 patents in cryptography, encryption, identity management, network security and behavioural analytics.