Persona, a San Francisco-based verified identity platform, has raised $200m in a Series D funding round, valuing the company at $2bn.
The investment was co-led by Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital, with continued support from existing backers including BOND, Coatue, First Round Capital, and Index Ventures.
Founded in 2018, Persona offers a configurable identity verification platform that enables businesses to securely collect, verify and manage personal and business identities. The platform caters to a wide range of sectors — from FinTech and AI to retail, hospitality, legal, and education — and is available in over 200 countries and 20 languages.
As more interactions online are mediated by AI agents, the need to identify and verify both human and non-human actors is becoming critical. The company plans to expand its platform’s capabilities to address rising fraud, privacy concerns, and a fragmented regulatory landscape.
Persona has made significant progress over the past year. It has doubled its customer base and been recognised as the top performer across all use cases in Gartner’s 2024 Critical Capabilities report. The firm also earned leading placement in Gartner’s inaugural Magic Quadrant for identity verification.
Notable advancements include global certifications for age assurance tools, new KYB capabilities, detection of over 75 million AI-driven face spoof attempts, and partnerships such as its integration with Okta’s Workforce Identity Cloud.
Persona CEO and co-founder Rick Song said, “We’re facing an identity authenticity crisis, where the line between real and synthetic has become increasingly blurred.
“Identity in an AI-driven world isn’t about ticking a box, and the question is no longer ‘is this a bot or not?’ but rather ‘who is the bot acting on behalf of, and what is their intent?’ Identity is the linchpin: it reveals who is behind each action, provides context around their intent, and ultimately builds trust in a future where AI mediates more of our interactions.”
Coatue co-founder Thomas Laffont added, “Identity is a foundational mega-trend driving digital transformation, and we’ve believed from day one that Persona would power this shift through its software-native solution.
“With the rise of AI agents, it’s critical to verify the identity — whether person or bot — behind every online interaction. Rick and the Persona team have both the vision and the ambition to build the platform that will help to lead this transformation.”
Persona previously raised $150m in its Series C funding round back in 2021. The deal had brought its valuation to $1.5bn.
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