On the eve of its first Finovate appearance, Kansas City startup EyeVerify today announced it closed a $2.3 million Series A round and will begin offering its mobile authentication software to banks, investment firms, payment systems and others in the banking and financial services sectors.

Investors in this round include Think Big Ventures and Nebraska Angels—both participants in the startup’s $1.4 million seed round last year—along with Mid-America Angels and undisclosed individuals. Funding will be used to accelerate the startup’s deployments with customers, add features for the financial sector and grow the marketing and sales team, according to the release.

Toby Rush, CEO, today told Silicon Prairie News that EyeVerify’s work with the banking and financial services sectors will provide good insight as the startup looks for feedback heading into other areas.

In a press release, EyeVerify highlighted a recent U.S. Federal Reserve study that shows security concerns were the primary reason given by those not using mobile payments and the second-most common reason given by those not using mobile banking.

“When you ask someone, ‘Who do you trust the most with online accounts?’ It’s usually banks,” Rush (right) said. “We are impressed by the desire of firms in the banking and financial services industry to replace complex, vulnerable pin and password schemes with a safe, simple, secure alternative.”

EyeVerify also is in the process of working on a consumer-facing app, Rush said.

On top of funding and customer news, EyeVerify announced it’s in the final stages of securing its fourth patent. This latest one covers the feature set that enables the startup’s high-accuracy matching.

Rush and Chris Barnett, EyeVerify’s executive vice president of global sales and marketing, are scheduled to demonstrate EyeVerify’s product at 9 a.m. local time Tuesday at Finovate Spring 2013 in San Francisco.

Credits: Photo from eyeverify.com