Cybersecurity firm Payfont says it is "delighted" with the response from investors after attracting backing of more than £1.1 million in its current round of fundraising that started earlier this month.

The Edinburgh-based firm believes the amount raised, part of a wider round, is amongst the highest ever for a Scottish IT start-up, and suggested it means the business is valued at close to £20 million.

The company offers increased identity protection for online transactions, providing a "virtual vault" between the consumer and the party they are dealing with.

It says the funding will be used to start the build and market its products globally, and it cites figures published earlier this month by the UK Card Association, revealing that remote-card transaction fraud jumped by 23 per cent in the first half of the year.

Payfont chief executive Dr David Lanc, formerly executive director at Royal Bank of Scotland's cards business, said the investor support would help "massively" to take Payfont's authentication framework to market.

He said: "We have developed the easiest and safest way in the world for people anywhere to protect their private and personal information online.

"For the first time everyone can benefit from our patented online protection against cybercrime and ecommerce fraud."

The fundraising was led by Payfont commercial director Ian Paterson Brown, whose experience includes senior roles at Ignis Asset Management and F&C Asset Management.

He said investment in the start-up had come from both original and new investors, and Payfont was recently awarded funding of £100,000 by Scottish Enterprise.

The company believes its potential market is "massive and global" and says it has attracted "significant international payment industry interest". It also says it is in talks with various organisations around the world, has had its patented security model validated by the University of Greenwich, and will announce further developments.