Entrust Enters Exclusive Discussions to Acquire Onfido

Entrust has entered into exclusive discussions to acquire Onfido.

This potential acquisition would add Onfido’s cloud-based, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered identity verification (IDV) technology to Entrust’s existing portfolio of identity solutions, Entrust said in a press release emailed to PYMNTS Tuesday (Jan. 6).

“We chose to enter into discussions to acquire Onfido because we believe they have the best-in-class IDV team, capabilities and tech stack in the world,” Todd Wilkinson, president and CEO of Entrust, said in the release.

Reached by PYMNTS, an Onfido spokesperson provided an emailed statement: “We’re excited to be entering into early and exclusive discussions for Onfido to be acquired by Entrust, a global leader in trusted payments, identities and data security. We aren’t able to comment further until these discussions are finalized, subject to regulatory approval and local law.”

The potential acquisition comes at a time when deepfakes, synthetic identity and other AI-based attacks have required banking, finance, government, travel and other organizations to step up their identity verification capabilities, Wilkinson said in the press release from Entrust.

For high-value, digital-first transactions in today’s environment, “step-up authentication using biometric-based, AI-driven identity verification will be critical,” Wilkinson said.

“Onfido IDV solutions have proven their value in Europe’s high-compliance environment,” Wilkinson said in the release. “With the proposed acquisition of Onfido, Entrust would have the opportunity to provide unmatched identity security solutions at a time when they are needed most among enterprises and institutions.”

Onfido was founded in 2012 and now has more than 1,200 customers globally, over $130 million in annually recurring revenue (ARR) and more than 500 employees, according to the press release.

The company’s customers include financial institutions, eCommerce, gambling and gaming companies, and sharing economy platforms, the release said.

It has processed more than 200 million identity checks with 2,500 document types and passports from 195 countries, per the release.

The potential acquisition comes about nine months after Onfido made an acquisition of its own.

In May, the company bought Airside Mobile to add that company’s shareable digital identity technology to Onfido’s automated identity verification platform. At that time, Airside Mobile’s technology had been used by over 10 million travelers, allowing them to fast-track their way through airports.