ID.me plans secure digital ID platform expansion after raising $100M in funding

ID.me is planning to expand its secure digital ID platform thanks to a major new round of funding. The company, currently valued at $1.5 billion for unicorn status, announced the successful series C funding round that raised $100 million from investors including Morgan Stanley (through Counterpoint Global), PSP Growth, Lead Edge Capital, CapitalG, WndrCo, as well as Willoughby Capital, BoxGroup, and Moonshots Capital.

The newly raised funds will not only allow ID.me to expand its NIST-certified, portable digital identity service to its 39 million digital ID end-users in the private and government sector but also aid its ongoing efforts to help design the identity layer of the internet. ID.me says its efforts come at an opportune time, as the pandemic is rapidly pushing critical services into the digital realm.

This increased usage of digital services also necessitates a rethinking of security and privacy. The company is thus aiming to reduce the reliance on separate passwords for all of these services, an outdated form of authentication that bears too many risks and is too costly to maintain in light of this global shift. It does this with a suite of solutions that includes ID document and selfie biometric verification, as well as database checks.

“ID.me is simplifying how individuals securely prove and share their identity online,” said ID.me Founder and CEO Blake Hall. “What Visa did for financial transactions, we are doing for identity with our secure digital identity network. It’s hard to imagine a world without Visa, where people wouldn’t have a portable credential for payments, yet logins and passwords are often useful only at one organization. ID.me empowers people to fully control their data through a portable and trusted login so they don’t need to create a new password at each site they visit.”

ID.me promises to let individuals carry their credentials with them, which means that they only have to verify themselves only once. This approach promises to lessen fraud risk and ease access to digital services.

“Trust is the fundamental differentiator for consumers and for building great businesses today,” said PSP Partners and PSP Growth Founder and Chairwoman Penny Pritzker. “ID.me has strong leadership, values and a culture that is built on trust and being ethical stewards of personal data. We are bullish on ID.me because they strive to empower more people and organizations to take better control of their data, addressing the clear market need for a common secure digital identity network.”

The company’s digital ID technology has also saved $1 billion per week in losses due to unemployment fraud, according to a recent report.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital identity  |  facial recognition  |  funding  |  ID.me  |  identity verification  |  investment  |  KYC