London-based startup Yoti is a free app that lets people prove their identity online and in person. It lets users prove their age and buy age-restricted goods, login securely to websites without having to remember passwords, and sign documents online using verified digital identities. The startup is also embarking on social impact work to help the 1.1 billion people in the world without identification to access basic services such as housing, banking, education, and healthcare.
Founded in 2014, Yoti has just raised €8.7 million from existing private investors, employees, and its co-founder and CEO Robin Tombs, with a post-money equity valuation of €90 million.
Yoti will use the funds to continue to grow its consumer network, invest in product development, and expand its operations globally. This latest funding round follows some key milestones for Yoti since it launched in November 2017, including a variety of partnerships spanning retail, government, travel, and social media.
These partnerships include Heathrow Airport, which is working with Yoti to explore biometric travel for passengers; NCR, which is using the service to improve age-verification at self-checkouts; Yubo, which is using Yoti to verify the age of its users and safeguard young people online; and the Government of Jersey, where 10% of the adult population are already using the service.
In addition, over 2,000 convenience stores throughout the UK are fighting underage sales and the rise of fake IDs by using Yoti’s digital identity app to verify the age of customers for age-restricted goods.
“We believe there’s tremendous potential in the use of digital identity for everyone,” said Robin Tombs, co-founder and CEO of Yoti. “Over the past few years we have invested about £65 million to develop our privacy-preserving identity system, giving individuals a safe and secure way to prove their age or identity, for free. I’m really proud of what the team has achieved so far, including working with the Government of Jersey, partnering with Heathrow Airport and NCR, developing our AI age estimation technology – which lets individuals prove their age without sharing any personal details – and most recently launching Yoti to local convenience stores nationwide to help tackle the increasing quality and accessibility of fake IDs.
“I’m also very excited by the potential of our social impact work, which aims to develop solutions for grassroots, local communities, and developing countries; helping to address the 1.1 billion people around the world who do not have any form of identification. This latest funding round will help us to continue to grow our consumer network and work with businesses globally to give as many people as possible a simpler and safer way of proving who they are.”
