Entrust is buying AI-based ID verification start-up Onfido, sources say for more than $400mn.
In Brief:
-Onfido, an early mover in the world of identity verification using computer vision, machine learning and other AI tools, is getting acquired.
- Entrust — the privately-held company that provides a range of certification and verification services around payment cards, passwords, network and website access, device access and more - is acquiring.
- He added that Entrust itself is profitable, and it has been for a number of years, and it currently has “just under $1bn” in revenue annually with about 10,000 customers.
What does this mean?
Entrust CEO and president Todd Wilkinson said in an interview, “As we bring Onfido together with Entrust, we’re going to have a leadership position pretty much across that identity lifecycle." Entrust has been around since the 1990s, and Datacard (which acquired Entrust and rebranded the business under the latter name) has been around since 1969, so it’s notable one of the key things that it’s picking up here is a comprehensive addition of AI-based tools. “[With] tools like Onfido’s Atlas AI, it’s no surprise that AI is a big draw for us, right?”
