The $57M Bet on Blockchain Identity (Rohan Pinto)

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In this episode, I'm joined by Rohan Pinto, co-founder of 1Kosmos. We trace the evolution of identity management from LDAP and single sign-on to blockchain-based biometric authentication, and how 1Kosmos built a FedRAMP-certified platform now handling millions of authentications per day across 50+ enterprise customers. Rohan unpacks why AI agents need their own authentication, authorization, and kill switches — and how self-learning policies can catch rogue agent behavior before it causes damage. He also shares the SIM-hijacking experience that sparked his leap into entrepreneurship, the MVP validation playbook (cohorts, demos, senior feedback) that carried him through Series A, and the real story behind 1Kosmos' $57M Series B — including why employees invested their own money into the round. We close with a candid take on balancing fractional and full-time talent as you scale from MVP through Series C.

🔗 Guest & Resources

Connect with Rohan Pinto:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohanpinto/

identity management, blockchain identity, biometric authentication, 1kosmos, ai agents, agent authentication, agent authorization The Artesian Network