Avast Acquires Self-Sovereign Identity Firm Evernym for Undisclosed Amount

Consumer cybersecurity giant Avast (LSE:AVST) has acquired self-sovereign identity (SSI) company Evernym for an undisclosed amount, Avast announced Thursday. The acquisition is expected to close in the coming weeks.

Prague-based Avast, which has a market cap of more than $8 billion, said Evernym’s SSI technology is central to its goal of creating decentralized digital identities.

“Our vision for digital freedom is to enable people to manage and retain control over their personal data so that they can interact and transact safely, privately and with confidence. Adding Evernym’s groundbreaking, self-sovereign identity technology to our offering enables us to address this area and is a huge step forward in the realization of our decentralized, portable model,” said Avast CEO Ondrej Vlcek in the press release.

Founded in 2013, Evernym’s flagship product is the Verify platform for issuing and verifying digital credentials. Other products include Verity Flow for no-code credential exchanges, the Connect.Me mobile wallet for holding and sharing credentials and a mobile wallet software development kit (SDK) that lets apps embed the SSI wallet functionality.

Evernym had raised about $16.5 million in private funding before its acquisition, according to Crunchbase data. Its valuation in those rounds of funding was not known.

Evernym will join Avast’s growing digital identity division under the leadership of Charles Walton, who was hired by the cybersecurity company in June to lead the identity business. Walton previously helped Mastercard develop its digital identity services.

“By creating solutions for self-sovereign identity – which is instrumental to creating a layer of trust – Evernym will be a core part of Avast’s vision of empowering people to achieve their true potential online,” Walton wrote in Avast’s announcement post.