KeyNexus

KeyNexus is a cloud-based encryption-key storage and provisioning service, built for developers of Cloud-based, Enterprise, SaaS or Mobile applications.

Security is often one of the final objections that SaaS companies face when selling their products, and KeyNexus helps them give peace of mind to their customers, with minimal overhead.

The KeyNexus service allows businesses to provision their encryption keys when, and only when, they require access to the key. When not in use, businesses never have to store their keys locally, such as in the public cloud or the enterprise, thus allowing them to increase security and comply with regulations and cloud security best practices.

The original philosophy behind KeyNexus was to offer a secure environment where businesses can store their encryption keys – an environment physically separate from that which stores their data and applications. All user key data is encrypted by customer-provided credentials and stored in industry leading, FIPS 140-2 compliant SafeNet Luna hardware security modules (HSMs) which are hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS) in their secure data centers as part of their AWS CloudHSM service. This ensures that our logical security measures are backed-up by strong physical security.

KeyNexus believes it will win the market because: (1) SaaS companies prefer an independent and focused solution provider, (2) KeyNexus is platform agnostic, (3) KeyNexus allows SaaS companies to turn keys over to their customers, and (4) KeyNexus is also targeting the legacy hardware security module (HSM) market, a market in which AWS has zero presence.

The company currently has $220,000 of cash on hand and a monthly burn rate of $30,000.

Team Background

Liam Lynch - Chief Security Architect

Liam has over 25 years of experience in enterprise and network security. Most notably, he was the Chief Security Strategist & Chief Security Architect at eBay for nearly 10 years.

Liam was also the Chief Information Security Officer for Inkiru and Geovision, as well as a Security Architect for Sybase and Zaplet. Liam began his career in 1987 as a Lead Developer for Cognos, a business intelligence company.

Liam holds a Diploma in Electronics Engineering Technology from St. Lawrence College. He also holds several US Patents.

Jeff MacMillan - Founder & CEO

Prior to founding KeyNexus, Jeff was the CEO of Dark Matter Labs (KeyNexus’ predecessor), which produced a line of enterprise encryption and key management solutions.

Previously, he was the Founder and CEO of Charge It Payment Solutions, an eCommerce payment and business management platform in Canada.

Jeff was also a member of The Canadian Cloud Council, a national association providing an educational forum for Canada's cloud computing thought leaders, policy makers and industry advocates.

Jeff graduated with a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from the Royal Military College of Canada. He then served as a Combat Systems Engineering Officer in the Canadian Navy, where he led numerous project teams spanning software development, operational planning, budgets, and maintenance of operational hardware and software.

Co-Investors

Scott and Cyan Banister

Angel investors in Paypal, Zappos, Uber, Buffer, Classpass, Makespace.