Estonia’s Veriff raises $69m for its ID verification tech

13 Apr 2021

Kaarel Kotkas and Janer Gorohhov. Image: Veriff

The start-up builds verification tech using video and artificial intelligence to analyse 1,000 data points when checking a user’s identity.

Veriff, an Estonian identity verification start-up, has raised $69m in a Series B round of funding as it expands its presence in the US.

The company develops identity verification technology using video and artificial intelligence to check a person’s identity against their documentation. It checks 1,000 data points with machine learning algorithms capable of analysing 9,000 different governments IDs in various languages.

According to the company, it has automated 98pc of the verification process. It has amassed many customers in the fintech space, including Wise.

The Series B round was led by IVP and Accel. Founder and chief executive Kaarel Kotkas said the funding round is the largest of its kind for a company in the identity verification market.

“Veriff is considered a ‘secret weapon’ to fight against fraud and solve the hassle of online identity verification. Now backed by top investors in the world, we look forward to partner up with more companies to solve their identity verification challenges and work towards bringing more trust online,” Kotkas said.

The Estonian company is heavily targeting the US market and pursuing more business from companies that are increasingly hiring remote and home workers that need to be onboarded remotely.

Last year in particular saw a spike in demand for identity verification tools and Veriff said its revenues were up as more clients turned to technology for these purposes. It also cited figures from Javelin Strategy & Research that suggested US consumers lost around $56bn through identity theft and fraud in 2020.

As part of the funding round, IVP’s Jules Maltz and Accel’s Matt Weigand will join Veriff’s board of directors.

“In a world that is becoming increasingly remote and digital-first, every company needs a solution like Veriff to facilitate internet trust,” Maltz said.

Veriff’s total funding now stands at $92.8m, with other backers including Y Combinator and Mosaic Ventures. It has offices in Estonia, the US and UK.

Jonathan Keane is a freelance business and technology journalist based in Dublin

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