Socure said on Tuesday it had raised $450 million in fresh capital from investors led by Accel and T. Rowe Price, valuing the digital identity verification startup at $4.5 billion. Other venture investors including Bain Capital Ventures, Tiger Global, Commerce Ventures, Scale Venture Partners and Sorenson Ventures also participated in the latest round. The latest financing makes Socure one of the most richly-valued ventures in the digital verification sector, whose growth has surged during the pandemic as companies worldwide rolled out remote working operations for employees. In September, one of Socure’s competitors ForgeRock Inc capitalized on the digital security boom and went public, while ID management firm Okta Inc earlier this year bought smaller rival Auth0 in a $6.5 billion deal to accelerate growth in the face of high demand. The latest funding for Socure comes months after it reportedly raised capital at a valuation of $1.3 billion. “We did $100 million round to start the year. That, in combination with this financing, gives us a lot of dry powder to invest in product development and bringing in talent,” founder and Chief Executive Officer Johnny Ayers said. New York-based Socure, whose customers include sports-betting company DraftKings Inc and fintech giant Chime, said last month its new clients more than tripled in the third quarter. (Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)