Onfido Acquires EYN to Provide Acoustic-Based Liveness Detection

PRESS RELEASE

SAN FRANCISCO AND LONDON, Oct 26, 2021 — Onfido, the global identity verification and authentication provider, today announced another record-breaking quarter, with a 93% increase year-to-date (YTD) in global revenue and 100% growth in annually recurring revenue (ARR). The company also announced its acquisition of biometric innovator, EYN whose industry-first acoustic liveness technology will be incorporated into Onfido’s Real Identity Platform with its employees joining Onfido’s research and biometrics teams.

This strong momentum was driven by continued growth in U.S. and APAC regions and increased demand by financial services and mobility companies looking to scale up their remote customer onboarding. Onfido also strengthened its leadership team during Q3 with two strategic hires including Faisal Chughtai who joins as Chief Financial Officer (former CFO of Inxeption and Executive Director at JPMorgan Chase) and Nello Franco as Chief Customer Officer (former Managing Director of Customer Operations at Vista Consulting Group and SVP Customer Success at Talend).

"We’re excited to announce another record quarter powered by strong U.S. and APAC growth, as businesses emerging from COVID-19 realize the benefits of digital-by-default customer acquisition strategies,” said Mike Tuchen, CEO of Onfido. “As we continue to increase our investment in research and development to fill out our arsenal of tools to fight fraud, we’re pleased to welcome the EYN team to the Onfido family. By combining their anti-spoofing technology with our existing image-based liveness detection, we’ll be able to offer a liveness product that is unmatched in the industry."

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a 60% increase in consumers accessing online services, from banks to insurance companies and retail. More consumers online have led to more cybercriminals attempting to set up fake accounts by impersonating legitimate customers. Liveness detection technology from Onfido and EYN aims to stamp this out by ensuring document and biometric checks are submitted live and that photos or deepfakes cannot be used to spoof legitimate users.

“We’re thrilled to join Onfido to help shape the future of online identity verification and allow more people to gain access to the vital services they need,” said Dr. Sheikh Faridul Hasan. “We share the same philosophy as Onfido: building trust and security at onboarding and throughout the customer journey doesn’t mean that companies need to compromise on user experience or fraud detection.”

EYN’s industry-first anti-spoofing technology uses audible sound and ultrasound wavelengths from a mobile device to actively probe for the presence of a live person, much like a sonar system. Its patented LiveProof technology will be incorporated into Onfido’s Real Identity Platform, strengthening existing image-based biometric anti-spoofing capabilities to give customers greater assurances that their remotely onboarded users are who they say they are.

“As we move to our next phase of growth, I’m also excited to welcome two US-based industry veterans to our executive team. Faisal brings 20+ years’ experience as a CFO, GM and Investment Banker for internet and software companies, growing businesses at scale, and deep experience with IPO, financing and M&A strategies. Nello, joining as CCO, has advised Vista’s $70B enterprise portfolio companies, and transformed public companies into customer-first organizations. His role at Onfido will drive cross-functional initiatives across the company to ensure our marketing, sales, and customer-facing teams communicate, sell, and deliver the value that we promise to our customers.”

Other notable achievements in Q3: