Dapple Security
Colorado-based passwordless authentication startup founded by a former NSA cryptographer, converting biometric fingerprints into passkeys that never store raw biometric data.
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Dapple Security builds passwordless authentication technology that converts a user’s fingerprint into a cryptographic passkey rather than storing the biometric image or template itself, aiming to eliminate both passwords and the biometric-data-storage risk that comes with conventional fingerprint authentication systems. The resulting passkey acts as a portable digital lock-and-key that can be used across multiple devices, since the underlying cryptographic material, not the biometric data, is what gets synced and stored.
Founded in 2022 by Gadalia Montoya Weinberg O’Bryan, a former NSA cryptographer, and based in Centennial, Colorado, Dapple raised $2.3 million in pre-seed funding in early 2024, led by First In (a fund focused on military veterans and former intelligence professionals) with additional angel and fund participation from ex/ante, Access Ventures, and Techstars. The company is a member of the FIDO Alliance, aligning its approach with the industry’s broader passwordless/passkey standards effort rather than building a proprietary, non-interoperable authentication scheme.
Dapple competes in the passwordless/passkey authentication category against both large identity platform vendors (Microsoft, Okta, Ping) that have added passkey support to existing IAM suites, and other biometric-authentication startups. Its differentiation is a cryptography-first approach to biometric authentication, built by a founder with deep applied-cryptography government experience, specifically targeting the data-exposure risk of biometric template storage rather than treating fingerprint auth as a convenience feature bolted onto existing identity systems. As a pre-seed-stage company, Dapple has yet to demonstrate enterprise-scale deployment or independent security validation.
Innovation Matrix Assessment
For a pre-seed company, Dapple has already built and publicly demonstrated a working biometric-to-passkey conversion approach and achieved FIDO Alliance membership, indicating meaningful early product velocity relative to its funding stage.
As a very early-stage startup with a handful of employees and no publicly disclosed enterprise customers, Dapple has minimal operating history and has not yet demonstrated production-scale deployment.
A $2.3 million pre-seed round with a notably specialized investor base (First In, ex/ante, Access Ventures, Techstars) and public recognition as a startup to watch by CSO Online are real, independently reported momentum signals for a company at this stage.
Converting fingerprints into a passkey without storing the underlying biometric image or template addresses a specific, well-known weakness in conventional biometric authentication systems (the risk of stored biometric templates being breached), a genuine architectural improvement rather than an incremental feature.
No independent third-party security audit, FIDO certification test results, or named enterprise deployment case study was publicly available; efficacy at this pre-seed stage rests on the founder's applied-cryptography background and FIDO Alliance membership rather than independent verification of the product itself.
Passwordless authentication and passkeys are an active, industry-wide priority as organizations move away from password-based credentials, and eliminating stored biometric data addresses a live and growing privacy/breach-liability concern for any organization adopting biometric authentication.
Why CISOs Should Care
CISOs evaluating passwordless authentication who are specifically concerned about the liability of storing biometric templates get an early-stage option in Dapple that is designed from the ground up to avoid that exposure entirely.
What Makes It Different
Dapple's core technical bet is converting biometrics into a cryptographic passkey without ever storing the raw biometric data, distinguishing it from passkey and biometric-auth vendors that store templates or images even when encrypted.
The Matrix Verdict
47/100 — EMERGING / UNRANKED
A technically credible, cryptography-first passwordless authentication startup founded by a former NSA cryptographer, with real specialized investor backing and FIDO alignment, but still too early-stage for independent validation of its security claims or enterprise readiness.
Editorial Note: Claims vs. Verified Findings
Independently verifiable: the 2022 founding, Centennial, Colorado HQ, founder background as a former NSA cryptographer, the $2.3 million pre-seed round and its investors, and FIDO Alliance membership are corroborated by BiometricUpdate, PRWeb, and Built In Colorado. Vendor-sourced and unverified: specific claims about the security or uncrackability of the passkey conversion process, and any customer traction figures, come only from Dapple's own materials and have not been independently tested or audited.
Sources
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