The increasing threat of fraud is making companies turn towards digital identity verification. As the internet operations are growing by the day, the need to securely verify those on the other side is also increasing. It has become a necessity to avoid potential identity theft and other online fraud. Identity verification varies based on the industry, and many companies are budding to meet the demand.
One such identity verification startup is Yoti. Founded by Robin Tombs, Duncan Francis and Noel Hayden in 2014, this London-based startup offers a digital identity platform and app. It lets people prove their age and purchase age-restricted goods, sign documents online using verified digital identities, and login securely to websites even without remembering passwords.
Secures €8.7M funding
In a recent development, Yoti has just secured £8 million (nearly €8.7 million) from its co-founder and CEO Robin Tombs, existing private investors and employees. This investment gives the company a post money equity valuation of £82 million (nearly €90 million). Yoti will use the investment to fuel investment in product development, growth of its consumer network, and expansion of its operations globally.
Key milestones achieved!
This latest funding round comes after a slew of milestones achieved by Yoti. Well, these include a variety of partnerships across government, retail, social media, and travel. These partnerships include Heathrow Airport, which works with Yoti to explore biometric travel for passengers, NCR, which uses Yoti’s service to improve age-verification at self-checkouts and Yubo, which uses Yoti to verify users’ age and protect young interest users.
Last year, the Government of Jersey selected Yoti as its digital identity provider, and 10% of Jersey’s adult population use the service. This percentage is expected to increase rapidly.
Here are four ways in which Yoti’s digital identity verification comes handy.
Fights underage sales
Besides the partnerships, Yoti’s digital identity verification platform is used by over 2,000 convenience stores all over the UK. These stores fight underage sales with the platform. Yoti’s digital identity app verifies the age of consumers to prevent age-restricted goods. This comes handy at a time when the issue of fake IDs is on the rise.
AI-based age estimation tech
Yoti has developed a leading AI-based estimation technology called Yoti Age Scan. This technology is used by Yubo, a social networking app to estimate the age of users and flag accounts of those who appear to have misstated their age. This is an initiative to protect young people online. Already, Yubo has run over 22 million age checks using Yoti Age Scan and has verified the profile of tens of thousands of users with the Yoti app.
The London-based identity verification platform has developed several licensable IP products around anti-spoofing last year. Also, it signed the Safe Face Pledge to show its commitment towards a transparent approach towards AI and biometrics.
E-signing platform helps businesses
The Yoti Doc Scan service helps businesses that require users to present their ID documents. The details can be digitised, and the document can be checked. Due to its demand, Yoti offers an API for businesses that use its e-signing platform called Yoti Sign.
Browser-based age verification
Another service developed by Yoti is ProveMyAge. It is a private and secure browser-based age verification solution. It helps adult websites comply with the age verification standards as per the upcoming Digital Economy Act, which will be implemented later this year. In fact, this startup is the first one to achieve the BBFC Age Verification Certification Scheme.
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