Hawcx Secures $3 Million in Pre-Seed Funding from Engineering Capital and Boldcap to Revolutionize Passwordless Authentication

LOS ALTOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 11, 2025--

Hawcx, a leading innovator in passwordless authentication, has secured $3 million in pre-seed funding. The round was led by Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Engineering Capital, with participation from seed-stage fund Boldcap. The funding will fuel Hawcx’s efforts to accelerate product development, grow its team, and scale sales and marketing initiatives.

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Passwords are a critical weak point in cybersecurity, contributing to over 86% of data breaches globally and frustrating users with inefficiencies. Hawcx tackles these issues head-on with its passwordless authentication platform, delivering robust security, seamless user experience, and integration in just five lines of code. Hawcx was founded in 2023 by Riya Shanmugam, Selva Kumaraswamy, and Ravi Ramaraju driven by a mission to make online security effortless and more effective. Since launching from stealth in April 2024, the company introduced a self-serve platform for faster adoption and saw rapid growth in adoption across industries.

"Having witnessed firsthand the high administrative overhead and costs of authentication for both consumers and employees at large organizations, we understand the pressing need for change. While the passwordless authentication market has largely focused on passkeys, which address security concerns, the true challenge lies in usability. The user experience with passkeys falls short of what’s needed for widespread adoption. Passwords will soon be a thing of the past, and at Hawcx, we are committed to solve this by delivering a seamless, passwordless authentication experience that not only simplifies security for users but also reduces operational overhead for organizations,” said Riya Shanmugam, co-founder and CEO of Hawcx.

“The team at Hawcx has paired a brilliant technical insight with a unique market insight. Their approach to passwordless authentication is solving one of the industry’s most pressing challenges in a uniquely scalable way,” said Ashmeet Sidana, founder and managing director at Engineering Capital. “We are thrilled to support Hawcx as they reimagine how businesses and users approach authentication, helping them lead in an emerging and essential space of cybersecurity."

Supporting Quotes

Sathya Nellore Sampat, General Partner at Boldcap:

“By 2030, we believe the majority of workforce and customer authentication will be passwordless. The security risks and cost overhead for organizations with millions of customers or thousands of employees are overwhelming and impossible to ignore. The founders of Hawcx are relentless entrepreneurs with complementary skills building a best-in-class passwordless protocol and scaling it to millions of customers worldwide.”

Tushar Phondge, Director of Consumer Identity at ADP:

“For organizations managing millions of users, the demand for authentication solutions that balance security and user experience is more critical than ever. Yet, the current market struggles to deliver a solution that achieves this balance while operating seamlessly across platforms and devices. Hawcx’s innovative approach is driving a new era in identity management—where robust security and effortless, cross-platform user experiences coexist seamlessly. This is the kind of breakthrough the industry has long awaited.”

About Hawcx

Hawcx is a passwordless authentication company that revolutionizes identity security with its innovative, frictionless user experience and effortless integration process. By adding just five lines of code, developers can transform the login experience for their end users to support passwordless authentication across platforms and devices. Hawcx stands out as the industry's first and only solution capable of enabling passwordless authentication for 6 billion internet users. For more information, visit www.hawcx.com.

Selvanathan Kumaraswamy (CTO), Riya Shanmugam (CEO), Ravindraraj Ramaraju (Chief Scientist) (Photo: Business Wire)

KABUL, Afghanisan (AP) — Widespread flooding, landslides and lightning strikes triggered by heavy rain and storms across Afghanistan have left 77 people dead and 137 injured over the past 10 days, the country’s Disaster Management Authority said Saturday.

More rain has been forecast for the coming days throughout Afghanistan, and the authority warned the public to stay away from river banks and areas prone to flooding.

So far this year, dozens of people have died due to extreme weather in Afghanistan, an impoverished country that is highly vulnerable to extreme weather events. Earlier this year, heavy snowfall and flash floods left dozens of people dead across the country.

The recent toll includes 26 people killed over the past 48 hours, the disaster authority said. Overall, 793 homes have been completely destroyed and a further 2,673 have been damaged, while floods and landslides have destroyed 337 kilometers (about 210 miles) of roads, it said.

Businesses, agricultural land, water wells and irrigation canals have also been damaged, with more than 5,800 families affected overall, the authority said.

Several highways connecting the country’s capital to the provinces have also been damaged by floods and landslides, forcing travelers to take long, circuitous routes to reach Kabul, Public Works Ministry spokesman Ashraf Haqshinas said Saturday.

They include the Kabul to Jalalabad highway, which is the main route linking the capital to the Pakistani border and eastern Afghan provinces. A landslide and rockfalls, as well as flooding, shut the highway on Thursday morning, and Haqshinas said crews were working to re-open the road.

The Public Works Ministry warned travelers to be cautious when using roads in affected areas.

Flooding has also shut the Salang Pass, a high mountain pass in the Hindu Kush mountain range that connects Kabul to the country’s north, including the major cities of Kunduz and Mazar-e-Sharif.

Snow and heavy rain often trigger flash floods that kill scores, or even hundreds, of people at a time in Afghanistan. In 2024, more than 300 people died in springtime flash floods.

Elena Becatoros contributed from Kabul, Afghanistan.

Residents carry furniture in a wheelbarrow as they clear an area damaged by heavy flooding in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Wahidullah Kakar)

Residents inspect a building that partially collapsed due to heavy flooding in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Wahidullah Kakar)

Residents inspect a building that partially collapsed due to heavy flooding in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Wahidullah Kakar)

Residents inspect a building damaged by heavy flooding in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Wahidullah Kakar)

Locals inspect a damaged house following floods, landslides and thunderstorms in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Sibghatullah)

Locals inspect a damaged house following floods, landslides and thunderstorms in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Sibghatullah)