Exostar has received $5 million from the Merck Global Health Innovation Fund that it plans to use to extend its reach in the healthcare and life science market.

The new investment will help Exostar improve its operations and expand globally, according to Exostar Vice President of Sales and Marketing Daniel Pfeifle.

“[This] funding will be used for further investment in research and development (R&D), for expanded and new product development and in marketing and sales (M&S), including the launch of the Exostar channel partner program,” Pfeifle told Talkin’ Cloud. “These investments will be focused in our security and collaboration program.”

Exostar currently provides a cloud-based authentication identity hub for the healthcare industry, Secure Access Manager (SAM). The Herndon, Virginia-based information technology provider said this hub connects customers with other organizations securely across large communities of users.

Richard Addi, Exostar’s CEO, added he believes his company’s solution can help healthcare and life science businesses in several ways.

“Our solution is an ideal fit for the healthcare and life science community that needs to set up connections with partners and their applications quickly and securely,” he said in a prepared statement. “Exostar helps its customers connect with thousands of partners in their ecosystem without compromising network security or intellectual property.”

What are Exostar’s long-term goals?

Pfeifle noted Exostar wants to expand in the life science market and further establish itself in the healthcare community, and the new investment will help his company accomplish these goals.

“I believe the real impact will be the expansion of new cloud applications and usage models by industries like healthcare and life science as they continue to adopt best security practices from other industries,” he said. “While the cloud has clearly been a priority for most companies, adoption at certain levels has been slow due to the fear of compromising intellectual property or personal records. This investment represents genuine recognition of the importance of creating a secure environment to optimize the benefits inherent in cloud networks.”

Exostar supports over 100,000 companies in 150 countries worldwide.

Share your thoughts about this story in the Comments section below, via Twitter @dkobialka or email me at [email protected].