So-called implicit authentication that relies on a user’s behavior rather than manual verification methods to confirm their identity is becoming increasingly viable, and venture capitalists are taking notice.

UnifyID Inc., one of the startups pioneering the approach, has today said it has closed a $20 million financing round led by New Enterprise Associates. The investment comes less than a week after another emerging authentication provider, Callsign Ltd., raised funding to make logins less of a hassle. But whereas Callsign employs a combination of passive signals and manual verification methods to that end, UnifyID aims to minimize the need for user input.

The startup’s namesake platform performs authentication by checking more than 100 different attributes that encapsulate the unique activity patterns of each individual. This includes information about their devices and other technical details, as well as distinctive behavioral tells such as how a person moves.

Much of the data is collected through a mobile app that doubles as a verification tool in cases where manual authentication may be required. During a demonstration last year, UnifyID co-founder John Whaley confirmed his identify to the platform by merely walking across the podium with a smartphone running the client. The system was then shown to deny a login attempt from the same device after it had changed hands.

According to UnifyID, the detection accuracy is so high that only one out of every 10,000 or so login attempts will produce a false negative. This ratio can be expected to become even better in the wake of today’s funding, which the startup plans to spend on ramping up product development efforts and customer trials.

UnifyID’s funding announcement didn’t go into detail about what companies are testing the platform, but it appears to be attracting a good amount of market interest. Whaley revealed at the RSA Conference in February that multiple “top financial services and technology companies” are running pilots.

Image: Ervin Strauhmanis/Flickr