Those who run financial programs over a desktop system are always eager for security measures to protect all that information. Between the various demands of the regulatory environment, and the horrific costs—in terms of PR, lost reputation and potentially even lawsuits—that would emerge for a data breach, protection for financial systems becomes a major point for many. OpenFin, therefore, likely has a good thing going in its product line of HTML5 runtime technology for financial desktops, and thanks in part to its impressive security, the company recently concluded a $4 million Series A funding round.
OpenFin allows its users to put the power of HTML5 applications to work in native desktop experiences, while at the same time doing so in a closely managed and very secure environment. Where previously, that might have required the construction of a dedicated app container to help meet security standards, OpenFin's system allows for an easy fix, and keeps firms from needing an app container. Based on the Chromium project released by Google (News
– Alert), OpenFin's system reduces development costs, improves the time it takes to get such a system up and running, and still maintains security all in one package.
Led by Bain Capital Ventures, and joined in by several others, the $4 million round of Series A funding brought the company to a hefty $7 million in total funding to date, with current reports suggesting that the company will put its funding to work to expand its engineering team—in both its New York and London locations—and develop more products besides.
But Bain Capital isn't just putting money on a flier; OpenFin's products are actually already being put to good use across a portion of the financial industry. Word from OpenFin's chief executive officer Mazy Dar suggests that the company's products are already in use in three different banks worldwide, with several others currently at the “active trials” level. OpenFin also brought in Mark Josling, formerly of IntercontinentalExchange, to serve as the company's vice president of applications. Josling formerly handled product development duties for several trading platforms, including both credit and fixed income varieties.
The particularly good part here is that, thanks to OpenFin's system, financial services companies can get access to the rapidly-growing slate of HTML5 apps in play, while at the same time preserving security and keeping users' data as safe as can be in the face of increasing threats targeting both information and money itself. The number of threats faced by the financial services sector is only growing, therefore so too should the means to protect against said threats. With OpenFin, the protection can still be in place while not losing access to the increasing numbers of valuable and useful HTML5 systems available.
OpenFin might well just provide users with the best of all possible worlds, and with that in mind, it's no wonder that the company is doing as well as it is so far. Bain Capital Ventures' involvement provides a bit of extra credibility in the field, and gives us all a little extra reason to look more closely at HTML5 and app containers in general.
Edited by
Stefania Viscusi