Araxid Prime, Inc., developer of the Araxid Identity Platform, announced it has closed a $12.5M Series A funding round led jointly by Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) and Columbia Capital (ColCap). The funds will be used to extend technology that is currently being used by leaders in healthcare and the public sector, and apply it to other industries such as retail, telecom and financial services.

Araxid offers a next-generation SaaS-based technology for resolving linking, and privatizing disparate identities stored in one or more databases - whether customers, partners or employees. It can be implemented as a standalone solution or it can be plugged into existing, on-premises Master Data Management (MDM) solutions to radically improve match rates with no extra work. The Araxid technology is based on a new model for identity matching called 'truth matching,' as opposed to traditional 'probabilistic matching' used by the existing MDM and Master Patient Index (MPI) technologies. Truth matching is ideal for SaaS delivery, which makes it much faster to deploy and far less expensive to operate and maintain.

'We believe that Araxid is the only company to offer a pure SaaS-based identity matching and resolution solution,' said Mark LaRow, CEO of Araxid. 'Not only is Araxid technology faster and less expensive than traditional matching technologies, it is far more accurate. Benchmark studies with very large organizations show that Araxid truth matching can achieve 98% accuracy, whereas probabilistic matching using market-leading MDM products only achieved 70% accuracy. Faster, cheaper and better is a good place to be.'

According to a wide range of independent studies, approximately 30% of personal data stored in databases suffer some discrepancies from 'the truth.' The data is out of date, was mis-entered or is the result of fraud; yet this identity data is critical for accessing and sharing medical records by doctors. It is needed by retailers to provide high quality loyalty services and it is essential for banks to achieve a single view of their customers. Identity data discrepancies are the cause of customer dissatisfaction, business inefficiency and waste. The MDM market for identity resolution is expected to grow to almost $1B in 2015 in response to this pervasive problem. Araxid will enter this market with a first-of-its-kind SaaS solution to accelerate and improve MDM solutions.

'Identity resolution and matching are only the beginning,' said Brent Williams, founder and CTO of Araxid. 'Our current and new customers will benefit from our platform extensions like the Identity Exchange Service (IXS), which allows multiple organizations, such as hospitals, to interact on behalf of a single patient without ever needing to share personal data between them. This protects the individual's identity in a way never before possible.'

'Araxid has been providing identity resolution services to various departments in the federal government for over two years, and has had the time and experience to perfect its technology,' said Arun Gupta, partner at Columbia Capital. 'We are excited to be a part of the Araxid team at this point, because we see the tremendous growth potential in bringing this benchmarked and proven technology into the commercial market space.'

'Because Bessemer has such a strong record of SaaS investments, we're fortunate to see most of the up and coming companies in the category,' said Kent Bennett, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. 'We are excited to partner with Araxid as they reinvent a market where less capable and more costly solutions currently dominate.'

Kent Bennett of BVP and Arun Gupta of Columbia Capital will join the board of Araxid.

About Araxid

Araxid offers SaaS-based solutions for identity resolution and matching, leading to trusted databases, trusted identities and trusted transactions. It allows companies and governments to achieve a single view of their customers, streamline business processes, and prevent fraud and waste by eliminating the ambiguity and duplication of customer identities in databases. Araxid increases personal data privacy by enabling organizations to exchange information without ever exposing customer personal information. Araxid is located in McLean, Va.

About Bessemer Venture Partners

Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) invests in early-stage and hyper-growth startups, partnering closely with entrepreneurs to build durable businesses. BVP is a global firm with offices in Menlo Park, Cambridge, New York, Bangalore and Herzliya. With $4 billion under management, BVP invests anywhere from $100,000 to $75 million in innovative companies like Pinterest, Twilio, Box, LinkedIn, Shopify, Yelp, Skype and CornerstoneOnDemand. Over 100 BVP companies have gone public-in the last three years alone, BVP has had 36 exits (IPO and M&A) and made new investments in more than 70 companies. Learn more at www.bvp.com and follow us on Twitter @BessemerVP.

About Columbia Capital

Columbia Capital is a venture capital firm based in Alexandria, Va. Since 1989, we have been partnering with top executives to help build communications, media and technology companies. We have invested in over 150 companies, many of which have redefined or created new industries, including Adjoined Consulting, BroadSoft, ICG Communications, MetroPCS, Millennial Media, Mobile Satellite Ventures, Nextel Communications, Ocular Networks, Presidio, Riptech, XM Satellite Radio and Zayo. Columbia currently manages over $2.8 billion of total capital and is actively investing out of our sixth fund.