Welcome Proxy––the future of digital identity.

West is pleased to announce our investment in Proxy, the provider of digital identities for the physical world. Proxy started with a simple idea that technology should empower us as we move throughout our day. This notion propelled co-founders Denis Mars and Simon Ratner to create a new paradigm that puts people in control of their own unique signal and identity.  Proxy closed on $42 million in a Series B financing bringing the total raised to over $58 million from leading investors including Scale Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Coatue and Y Combinator.

The rapid expansion of our physical and digital worlds has created too many high friction IDs. The average person has upwards of 80 forms of ID spanning these worlds. Everything from our house and car keys to driver’s license, employee or building key card, and barcode for the gym. Each one represents a unique identifier, but these markers are siloed and we don’t own or control them ourselves. 

Proxy is addressing this issue by giving individuals a better way to manage and convey their digital identity. Today, the company is transforming workplaces and buildings by authenticating and interacting with Bluetooth-enabled devices––letting people forego their key cards for a more personal, unique solution. Proxy gives companies and organizations the ability to let their teams navigate seamlessly through the workplace with a personal, unique signal that becomes the identifier, resulting in a more reliable, more enjoyable workplace experience. With Proxy, people can interact with devices in the real world from building doors to cars to connected devices, just by being themselves. It’s why Proxy is already working with the likes of Uber, Cloudflare and Accenture to create more seamless and secure experiences for employees. 

As part of our investment criteria, West is working directly with the Proxy team on the full company brand platform, including critical employer brand artifacts and initiatives that will help empower this next phase of growth. We work with founders and founding teams at inflection points, ones that are building brands with impact, and we couldn’t be more excited about Proxy’s current and future impact on the way we interact with our space. 

"Innovation requires two things. Inventing something people love, and being able to describe it to people. The second is just as important as the first. So we’re excited to partner with West and work closely with their team to help us tell our story and to share our vision of a frictionless world.” 

- Denis Mars, Co-Founder and CEO | Proxy

A Forbes 2019 Next Billion Dollar Startup and Fast Company Most Innovative Honoree, Proxy has just touched the surface of what’s possible for their technology and the future of identity management. Learn more about Proxy here.