Persona (identity verification service)

For other uses, see Persona.

Persona Identities, Inc.

Company type	Private
Industry	Software
Founded	October 2018;7 years ago (October 2018)
Founders	Rick Song Charles Yeh
Headquarters	San Francisco, California, United States
Services	Identity verification
Website	withpersona.com

Persona is an American identity verification company headquartered in San Francisco, California. The organization provides identity infrastructure to help businesses verify individuals and other organizations during onboarding and across the customer lifecycle to meet compliance requirements, fight fraud, and build trust. The Persona platform enables businesses to meet compliance requirements, including Know Your Customer (KYC), Know Your Business (KYB), anti-money laundering (AML), age verification, and other global compliance requirements. ^{[1] [2]}

In April 2025, Persona raised $200 million in Series D led by Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital at a $2 billion valuation. ^[3]

History

Founding (2018). Former Square engineer Rick Song and former Dropbox engineer Charles Yeh founded Persona in 2018.

Early growth: In 2021, Persona raised $50M in series B funding amid rising demand for online identity verification during the COVID-19 pandemic. ^[4]

Six months after their Series B funding round in 2021, Persona raised $150M in its Series C funding round led by the SpaceX-backing Founders Fund and Index Ventures, with participation from Coatue Management, Meritech Capital Partners, and Bond. ^[5]

Series D (2025). On April 30, 2025, Persona announced a $200 million Series D led by Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital with participation from BOND, Coatue Management, First Round Capital, Index Ventures, and Chemistry, valuing the company at $2 billion. ^{[6] [7]}

In 2024-2025, independent publications have also reported Persona entering partnerships with Okta’s Workforce Identity Cloud and Cisco Duo for candidate identity verification and secure employee onboarding, as well as Mastercard for automated identity verification and fraud mitigation. ^{[8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]}

Products and services

Persona offers identity verification and orchestration tools used for Know Your Customer (KYC), Know Your Business (KYB), and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) processes, as well as document and selfie liveness checks, and fraud investigation/case review tools. ^[14]

Reception and privacy concerns

Persona and other third‑party age verification providers have been cited in broader debates about the privacy and security implications of online age checks. Coverage of Reddit’s UK rollout focused on short photo retention windows and the separation of user account data from verification data, while also highlighting civil liberties concerns about expanding age restrictions online. ^[15]

See also

• Identity verification service
• Identity management
• Age verification system
• Regulatory technology

References

1. Azevedo, Mary Ann (4 May 2021). "Persona lands $50M for identity verification after seeing 10x YoY revenue growth". TechCrunch. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
2. "US identity platform Persona hits $2bn valuation after $200m Series D". FinTech Futures. 2 May 2025. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
3. Deutscher, Maria (2025-04-30). "Identity verification startup Persona raises $200M at $2B valuation". SiliconANGLE. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
4. "Persona lands $50M for identity verification after seeing 10x YoY revenue growth". TechCrunch. 2021-05-04. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
5. "Founders Fund Values Identity Startup Persona at $1.5 Billion". Bloomberg. 2021-09-15. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
6. "AI Is Making The Internet's Bot Problem Worse. This $2 Billion Startup Is On The Front Lines". Forbes. 2025-04-30. Retrieved 2025-11-25.
7. "Persona Secures $200M to Develop Identity Infrastructure for an AI-Driven Future". The Software Report. 2025-04-30. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
8. "$75 Million in Deepfakes Blocked: Persona Leads the Corporate Fight Against Hiring Fraud". VentureBeat. 2024-08-12. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
9. "Persona partners with Okta to optimise workforce identity security". The Paypers. 2024-11-14. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
10. "How Okta Embraces Identity Verification Using Persona". Okta Security Blog. 2025-02-05. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
11. "Secure Onboarding with Identity Verification Demo". Okta. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
12. "Persona powers up its IDV solution as deep-fake workplace fraud surges". Biometric Update. 2025-06-25. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
13. "Automate identity verification, enhance security, and customize flows with Persona and Mastercard Identity". Ekata. 2024-02-05. Retrieved 2025-11-26.
14. "Persona updates KYC-KYB platform". Biometric Update. 2025-03-07. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
15. Forristal, Lauren (15 July 2025). "Reddit rolls out age verification in the UK to comply with new rules". TechCrunch. Retrieved 15 November 2025.