Israeli startup Unibeam has raised US$6 million in seed funding led by NFX, with participation from AnD Ventures.

The company develops cryptographic authentication technology using SIM cards and eSIMs for identity verification.

Its system generates a unique cryptographic key based on SIM ID, device ID, and phone number, aiming to replace traditional methods like passwords and one-time codes.

Unibeam offers its solution as a SaaS product via API. It works across various mobile devices and operating systems, and can be used for logins, multi-factor authentication, transaction approvals, and IoT device identification.

The company was founded by CEO Ran Ben-David and CTO Steve Harkins, with an advisory board that includes former telecom professionals from Orange and Vodafone.

🔗 Source: Calcalist

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ SIM cards’ transformation from vulnerability to security solution

Unibeam’s approach represents a significant shift in how the industry views SIM technology, transforming a historically vulnerable element into a security asset.

In 2015, American and British intelligence agencies successfully breached Gemalto, the world’s largest SIM card manufacturer, stealing encryption keys that compromised global mobile communications. This incident highlighted how SIM infrastructure was once a significant weakness in digital security1.

The fact that Unibeam can now use these same SIM cards as trusted security devices shows the telecom industry’s adaptation, with the secure elements in modern SIMs being repurposed from simple carrier authentication to broader identity verification.

This evolution addresses the vulnerability highlighted in the research, where access to SIM encryption keys allowed bypassing normal security protocols. Unibeam’s approach essentially flips this model by making the SIM an active participant in security rather than a passive target.

2️⃣ The industry shift toward deterministic authentication methods

Unibeam’s funding comes amid a broader industry recognition that probabilistic authentication methods are increasingly vulnerable to sophisticated attacks.

The article notes a significant increase in SIM swapping cases in the UK in 2024 and mentions that the FBI and CISA recently issued warnings against SMS-based one-time passwords due to their vulnerability to phishing and interception.

This context explains why investors are backing Unibeam’s deterministic approach, which uses cryptographic verification anchored to physical hardware rather than behavioral patterns or knowledge-based authentication that can be compromised.