From left: Veriff co-founders Janer Gorohhov and Kaarel Kotkas. Image: Veriff
Veriff has raised $15.5m in funding and plans to raise further capital as demand for online identity verification solutions has increased during the Covid-19 pandemic.
On Wednesday (1 July), Estonian identity verification start-up Veriff announced that it has raised $15.5m to ramp up global growth and sales to enterprise customers.
Investors in the latest round included returning investors Y Combinator and Mosaic Ventures, as well as new investors such as NordicNinja VC and Change Ventures. To date, the start-up has raised $23.8m in funding.
Veriff said that on the back of the latest funding round, it plans to enter a larger Series B financing round some time in the near future.
Founded in 2015 by Kaarel Kotkas and Janer Gorohhov, Veriff is an AI-driven start-up developing technology to ensure that people are who they claim to be. Its tech analyses thousands of technological and behavioural variables in seconds, to verify users from more than 190 countries.
The firm employees 230 people in Estonia and the US. Last year Veriff acquired Estonian network intelligence firm BrowserID.
The funding
In a blogpost, Veriff’s head of global communication, Karita Sall, said: “The global pandemic has brought along significant paradigm shifts. This has created an increased demand for online identity verification, and Veriff is taking this responsibility seriously.
“During the pandemic, we were in close contact with our international customers, and witnessed how global tech giants as well as more traditional businesses pivoted their strategies in response to the crisis.”
Rainer Sternfeld, managing partner of Japanese-Nordic venture fund NordicNinja VC, commented on Veriff’s “sound performance” in recent years.
“Veriff has been able to significantly grow their business, successfully enter the market in the UK as well as in the US, and signed agreements with some of Silicon Valley’s biggest players,” he said. “We at NordicNinja are excited to see what the future has in store for Veriff, especially as it’s an essential service with a potential to reach every single person on the planet.”
