ID.me Valued at $1.8 Billion Following Tender Offer

ID.me has reportedly been valued at $1.8 billion following a tender offer.

That’s up from $1.73 billion two years ago, Bloomberg News reported Monday (Nov. 25), citing a source familiar with the matter.

The transaction was led by new investor Ribbit Capital, with existing investors Viking Global Investors and CapitalG taking part. Bloomberg earlier reported on the planned tender offer last month. PYMNTS has contacted ID.me for comment but has not yet gotten a reply.

As has been covered here, identity verification services have grown in importance as the threat of identity theft rises.

Speaking with PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster, Bryan Lewis, CEO of Intellicheck, stressed the extent of the havoc cybercriminals can wreak with just a few bits of personal information.

“People don’t realize how easy it is to steal your identity,” Lewis said. “If I can get your social media account or your email, I can change everything about your life. I can change every password you have. I can ruin your reputation.”

He added that the cost of stealing an identity is alarmingly low, with criminals able to spend as little as $30 to buy names, addresses, Social Security numbers and emails.

Advanced technologies are vulnerable as well, as voice prints and facial recognition can be mimicked using artificial intelligence (AI), leading banks to reconsider employing voice recognition to verify customers.

Lewis stressed the importance of robust defenses, adding, “if you can tell that a government-issued ID is real, that’s the most important step.”

He also highlighted ongoing challenges with digital IDs, including fragmentation in their creation and issuance from state to state. To deal with identity fraud, his company verifies the authenticity of government-issued IDs, scanning barcodes and examining hidden security features throughout North America.

PYMNTS wrote recently about the potential for digital wallets as a source of identity verification, though just a few states now permit digital storage of driver’s licenses or other forms of identification.

Research by PYMNTS Intelligence has shown that 79% of U.S. consumers needed to verify their identity last year, chiefly for banking transactions, while 41% anticipate using their wallets for this purpose in the next few years.

“This presents an opportunity for wallet platforms to integrate ID verification with services like government and alcohol purchases,” PYMNTS wrote.