The importance of establishing a digital identity and taking ownership of your online, personal data is now a core necessity. Digital identity app Yoti taps into the power of biometrics to enable secure website logins, instead of remembering passwords. With over 4.7 million downloads, Yoti prioritizes the consumer, so individuals can share specific identity details – like their name & date of birth –without sharing any other personal information that would typically be printed on an ID document. This app disrupts the security & identification market. For the estimated 1.1 billion people around the world do not have any form of identification, Yoti provides a way to include these individuals, helping them access essential services.
London TechWatch spoke with Robin Tombs about creating the essential identification app that is catching investors’ attention. Yoti has now raised a total of £16M across two rounds.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
Yoti has raised £8M of new equity investment from existing private investors, employees, and myself. This gives the company a post-money equity valuation of £82M, following two previous successful investment rounds.
Tell us about the product or service Yoti offers.
Yoti is your digital identity – the simple, most secure way to prove who you are. Individuals can create a free, digital identity in minutes and have a secure proof of identity for many areas of their life. Our free digital identity app, with over 4.7 million downloads, is the new, safer way to prove your age online and in person, and save time and money proving your identity to businesses and governments. It brings safer connections with the people you meet online as well as enabling secure website login with your biometrics instead of remembering passwords.
What inspired you to start Yoti?
Yoti was founded in 2014 after myself and my cofounder Duncan Francis saw an opportunity to use the advancements in biometrics and smartphone technology to make it safer and easier for people to prove their identity using their phone.
How is Yoti different?
Yoti is different because we are focused on the consumer; giving individuals a new, safer way to prove their identity using their phone. Yoti is built on the principles of data minimisation, privacy, and security to give individuals more control, transparency, and protection over their personal data. Individuals can use Yoti to just share specific identity details, for instance, their name and date of birth, without sharing any other personal information that would typically be printed on an ID document.
No other existing identity verification ‘solution’ empowers consumers to take control of their identity, understand the value of their personal data, and provide a service that meets business needs.
What market is Yoti targeting and how big is it?
A digital identity must have utility across public and private sectors to drive adoption and awareness. Yoti spans a range of industries including retail, travel, social media, financial services, crypto, and government. Some of our early partnerships include:
Heathrow Airport – working with Yoti to help explore biometric travel for passengers
NCR – partnered with Yoti to improve age verification at the self-checkout
Yubo – using Yoti to help safeguard young people online
There is also a growing awareness amongst individuals regarding how their data is being gathered and misused. In an era of data breaches and scandals like Cambridge Analytica, people want greater control, privacy and transparency over their personal information.
Yoti is built around the principles of transparency, security, and privacy. We put people in control over their data, and they always know exactly what information they are sharing with a business; creating more trust and transparency. This is driving adoption, with over 4.7M downloads of the Yoti app to date.
Yoti is built around the principles of transparency, security, and privacy. We put people in control over their data, and they always know exactly what information they are sharing with a business; creating more trust and transparency. This is driving adoption, with over 4.7M downloads of the Yoti app to date.
What’s your business model?
Yoti is free to individuals – we don’t believe they should have to pay to prove who they are.
We charge businesses a fee to receive verified information about an individual at a very disruptive cost. As part of our social impact work, the core Yoti service is free for eligible charities and other Yoti services are discounted.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
The current identity system is broken, outdated and insecure – we still have to show physical identity documents simply to prove who we are. But this results in us sharing an excessive amount of personal information, putting us at risk of identity fraud. Additionally, millions of ID documents are lost and stolen every year, and our online accounts are vulnerable to data hacks.
There’s also a number of growing issues online – young people can easily bypass age restrictions to access explicit content or create social media accounts. We can’t be 100% confident that the people we meet online are who they say they are, and over 1.1 billion people around the world do not have any form of identification – leaving them socially excluded and unable to access essential services.
We want to help fix these issues, and we believe everyone, no matter who they are or where they’re from, deserves a safe way of proving their identity.
Over the next few years, many people will choose to create a secure digital identity to protect their personal information and have a simpler and safer way to prove who they are. Yoti aims to be the world’s trusted identity platform and make life simpler and safer for millions of people.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
We will use this latest funding round to continue to grow our consumer network, invest in product development, and expand our operations globally. We also have a number of partnerships in the pipeline which we’re very excited about. It’s going to be a busy few months!
What advice can you offer companies in London that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Connect with as many people as you can. It’s great to make connections and get insight and advice from different people in the industry.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
We’re currently rolling Yoti out to convenience stores and newsagents throughout the UK, to help local retailers fight fake IDs and underage sales. Yoti is already being
It shows that both businesses and their customers are ready for a new way to prove age. As mentioned earlier, more people are recognising the importance of taking control over their data and having a safer way to prove who they are. I think we’ll continue to see strong interest and adoption amongst individuals and businesses, as the need for digital identities becomes increasingly apparent.
