LONDON & SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Onfido, the global identity verification and authentication provider simplifying identity for everyone, today announced a breakthrough year for 2021. The company grew revenue 90% year-over-year to over $100 million, and achieved 134% year-over-year growth in the US.
In September 2021, Onfido’s digital identity checks surpassed 100 million, and just five months later, increased 50%, hitting 150 million, marking another major milestone for the company. To meet the increasing demand for Onfido’s verification and authentication services, the company expanded its workforce by 50%, to 600 employees, investing in research and development, advanced AI-powered fraud detection capabilities and customer success for enterprises worldwide.
With Goode Intelligence predicting that the number of identity verification checks will grow from 1.1 billion last year to 3.8 billion in 2026, it is clear that the demand for digital identity verification services is set to continue its explosive growth.
“Our strong year reflects the continued shift towards the critical adoption of digital environments where businesses are adapting to meet their users online,” said Mike Tuchen, CEO at Onfido. “With $56bn lost to identity theft in 2020 alone1, a fast, simple and secure online journey is imperative when it comes to building customer trust, which is why we are continuing to invest in our workforce, technology, research and development.”
Other 2021 highlights:
Product innovation
Onfido launched Face Authenticate, adding a fast and seamless biometric face authenticator as well as new security tools, including Onfido Private Key Encryption to its product offering. Leveraging its award-winning AI technology, users simply take a photo of their government-issued identity document (ID). Onfido then verifies the ID and matches it to the document data provided when their real identity was established at registration. This way, companies can now go beyond safely onboarding new users for Know Your Customer (KYC) or compliance purposes by providing a safe and frictionless way for trusted users to re-access existing accounts within seconds. Face Authenticate quickly re-grants access for times such as updating personal account information, initiating high-value transactions, or accessing new products and services.
Earlier in 2021, Onfido announced the acquisition of EYN, whose industry-first acoustic liveness technology uses audible sound and ultrasound wavelengths from a mobile device to actively probe for the presence of a live person, much like a sonar system. It adds an additional layer of security to image-based biometric anti-spoofing capabilities to give customers greater assurances that their remotely onboarded users are who they say they are. The technology is currently being integrated into Onfido’s existing image-based liveness detection solution.
Continued customer momentum
As demand for fast and secure digital access increases, Onfido had a number of new customers and expanded partnerships in 2021. Some highlights of global customers added included financial services: Volkswagen Financial Services, DBS Bank, Lemonway, and BUX; gaming providers: Soft2Bet and Games247; telecommunications company Orange; and healthcare unicorn Doctolib.
“Scrive and Onfido bring the experience and expertise we were looking for to provide a thoroughly modern, secure financing experience for our dealerships and their customers,” said Titus Ackah-Sanzah, Product Owner at Volkswagen Financial Services UK. “The response from our dealers is very positive: a clear, easy-to-follow process that streamlines the purchase experience and expedites the payout time.”
“Our vision is to become a digital-first telco offer and provide new experiences for our customers,” said Artur Stankiewicz, Chief Marketing and Digital Officer, Orange Poland. “Nowadays, customers are looking for solutions and services that are easily available – just the way they need them and whenever they need them, fully online. Onfido helps us bridge that gap, enabling us to know our customers in a fully online manner.”
Following the successful launch of Onfido’s Salesforce integration, Cala Homes integrated Onfido’s AppExchange solution to accelerate the purchase of a new home. The Nottingham, a UK building society (credit union), also implemented the solution explaining that it reduced customer friction in its customer onboarding process:
“We’re 164 years old and still very paper-based,” said Scott Devereaux, Head of Innovation, The Nottingham. “Onfido lets us take away paper and form filling by bringing in facial recognition and doc verification which really speeds up the onboarding process and helps build trust with our customers.”
Expanded leadership team
In 2021, Onfido bolstered its leadership team with a number of strategic hires including Alex Valle as Chief Product Officer (former GM at Criteo; Head of Mobile Ad Products at Google); Faisal Chughtai as Chief Financial Officer (former CFO of Inxeption and Executive Director at JPMorgan Chase); Nello Franco as Chief Customer Officer (former Managing Director of Customer Operations at Vista Consulting Group and SVP Customer Success at Talend); Nate Skinner as Chief Marketing Officer (former SVP of Global Marketing for Oracle’s Advertising and Customer Experience business). Onfido also appointed two new board members in Sue Barsamian (also a board member at Auth0, Symantec, Norton Lifelock) and Bill Losch, former Chief Financial Officer at Okta.
The company also added to its policy team with the appointments of Matt Peake as Global Director of Public Policy (former Head of Regulatory and Public Policy UK and IE at Verizon) and Amy Shuart, Head of US Government Affairs (former committee member on Ways and Means at the U.S. House of Representatives).
Achievements and Awards
Onfido’s leadership team expansion comes amidst a number of product achievements and industry recognition. In a study conducted by leading analyst firm, Forrester, The Total Economic Impact™ of Onfido revealed that organizations experience benefits of up to 261% ROI and a net present value (NPV) of $9.86M, with the solution paying itself off in 6 months.
Onfido was named a 2021 CB Insights Fintech 250 for the fourth consecutive year, earned the 2021 Cybersecurity Breakthrough Award for “Fraud Prevention Innovation of the Year,” and won “Security Innovation of the Year” in the National Technology Awards.
Register to join the upcoming webinar on Wednesday 9th March 2022, with experts from Tesco Bank, HSBC, 11:FS and Onfido to hear about the evolution of onboarding and how customer demand is changing.
About Onfido
Onfido is simplifying digital identity for everyone. The company makes it easy for people to access services by digitally proving a person’s real identity by verifying a photo ID and facial biometrics with award-winning artificial intelligence (AI). That’s how it powers secure and inclusive relationships between businesses and their customers without compromising experience, conversion, or security.
Recognized as a global leader in AI for identity verification and authentication, Onfido is backed by TPG Growth, Idinvest Partners, Crane Venture Partners, Salesforce Ventures, M12 (Microsoft) and others. In 2021 they were awarded ‘Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Hot Company’ by CyberDefense Global Infosec Awards, ‘Fraud Prevention Innovation of the Year’ at the CyberSecurity Breakthrough Awards, and named to the CB Insights Fintech 250 for the fourth year running. They partner with over 800 businesses globally to help millions access services every week – from billion dollar institutions to hypergrowth start-ups. Onfido supports checks in 195 countries, and 2,500+ document types.
1Javelin Research: Digital Identity ~ Realising Critical Opportunities
