Startups > Persona

Persona

Persona helps businesses verify identities and comply with regulations in seconds.

Series C $418M total Founded 2018 San Francisco, California 434 employees

Persona is an all-in-one identity verification platform that helps businesses verify individuals and organizations, manage user onboarding, and comply with KYC, AML, and age verification regulations. The platform uses machine learning, computer vision, and proprietary liveness checks to automate identity verification in seconds, with capabilities including document verification, biometric checks, database screening, and customizable workflow automation. Founded by former Dropbox and Square engineers, Persona serves high-growth companies across fintech, compliance, and trust & safety use cases.

Problem solved

Businesses need fast, accurate identity verification and compliance orchestration to onboard users globally while preventing fraud, but manual processes are slow and user experience suffers during verification flows.

Target customer

Series B+ B2B SaaS, fintech, and high-growth platforms with KYC/AML compliance requirements or age verification needs; customers typically process high volumes of user onboarding.

Website LinkedIn Crunchbase Twitter / X

Founders

Rick Song

CEO & Co-Founder

Former identity fraud and risk products engineer at Square; built the technical foundation for identity verification infrastructure.

Charles Yeh

CTO & Co-Founder

Former engineer at Dropbox; brings infrastructure and systems expertise to the platform.

Funding history

Seed $4.5M May 2018 Led by Coatue Management, First Round Capital

Series A $17.5M Unknown Led by Coatue Management, First Round Capital

Series B $50M May 2021 Led by Unknown

Series C $150M September 2021 Led by Unknown

Series D $200M April 30, 2025 Led by Founders Fund, Ribbit Capital · BOND, Chemistry, Coatue Management, First Round Capital, Index Ventures

Total raised: $418M

Industries

SaaS Identity Management

Pricing

Starts at $250/month for medium-sized or larger businesses; market standard pricing approximately $500/month. Usage-based startup program also available. Enterprise pricing custom.

Notable customers

Square, DoorDash, Coursera, Robinhood, Gusto, BlockFi, Sonder, Brex, LinkedIn, Block, OpenAI

Integrations

Stripe, DocuSign, HubSpot, Marketo, Segment, Google Cloud, Cloudflare

Tech stack

Astro (JavaScript frameworks) Qualified (Live chat) Zendesk (Documentation) Webpack DocuSign Contentful (CMS) Linkedin Insight Tag (Analytics) Hotjar (Analytics) Facebook Pixel (Analytics) Clearbit Reveal (Analytics) Google Analytics (Analytics) Atlassian Statuspage (PaaS) Cloudflare Bot Management (Security) HSTS (Security) Apple iCloud Mail (Webmail) Google Workspace (Email) Google Cloud CDN (CDN) Cloudflare (CDN) Marketo (Marketing automation) HubSpot (Marketing automation) Simpli.fi (Advertising) Stripe (Payment processors) Google Tag Manager (Tag managers) Google Cloud (IaaS) Osano (Cookie compliance) Segment (Customer data platform)

Website

withpersona.com/

Competitors

Jumio

Broader identity verification competitor with similar document and biometric capabilities but less emphasis on workflow orchestration.

Onfido (Entrust IDV)

Identity verification platform with strong focus on document verification; Persona differentiates with more sophisticated graph-based fraud prevention and workflow automation.

Sumsub

Comprehensive compliance platform; Persona stands out with proprietary liveness technology and more configurable workflow automation.

Veriff

Identity verification provider; Persona offers more sophisticated orchestration and fraud prevention through its graph tool for detecting promo abuse and duplicate accounts.

Riskified

Broader fraud prevention platform; Persona focuses specifically on identity verification and KYC/AML compliance workflows.

Why this matters: Persona has become the category-defining leader in identity orchestration for compliance, processing 300+ million verifications in 2024 and achieving $2B valuation in 2025. The company is well-positioned at the intersection of fintech growth, regulatory expansion (age verification laws), and the increasing need for fraud prevention across platforms.

Best for: High-growth B2B platforms, fintech companies, and regulated businesses that need to verify users globally while maintaining excellent onboarding experience and preventing identity-related fraud.

Use cases

Global Onboarding with Compliance

Companies like Coursera faced high user drop-off during onboarding due to manual identity verification processes. Persona's automated, multi-modal verification (documents, biometrics, database checks) reduced friction while maintaining regulatory compliance, allowing Coursera to scale user acquisition.

Fraud Prevention for Financial Services

Fintech platforms like Robinhood and BlockFi use Persona's graph tool to prevent money laundering, promo abuse, and duplicate accounts by linking identity data and detecting suspicious patterns across user behavior without manual review.

Age Verification for Content Platforms

Social platforms and AI services like OpenAI use Persona's age verification capabilities to comply with emerging regulations (UK Online Safety Act, Australia's social media age laws) and prevent minors from accessing age-restricted content.

Reverification and Compliance Audits

Regulated businesses use Persona's workflow automation to schedule and orchestrate identity reverification for high-risk users, automatically pulling watchlist reports and triggering follow-up actions based on custom risk logic.

Alternatives

Onfido Choose Onfido if you prioritize document verification as your primary use case; Persona is stronger for orchestration and fraud prevention.

Sumsub Choose Sumsub if you need a single platform for broader compliance workflows beyond identity; Persona excels at identity-specific orchestration.

Jumio Choose Jumio for simpler, standalone identity verification; Persona is better for complex, multi-stage compliance and fraud prevention workflows.

FAQ

What does Persona do? +

Persona is an identity verification platform that helps businesses verify individuals and organizations, manage compliance (KYC, AML), and prevent fraud. It uses machine learning, computer vision, and liveness checks to automate verification in seconds, with capabilities including document verification, biometric checks, database screening, and customizable workflow orchestration.

How much does Persona cost? +

Persona's pricing starts at $250/month for medium-sized or larger businesses, with market-standard pricing around $500/month. They also offer a usage-based startup program and custom enterprise pricing. Contact sales for specific quotes based on verification volume and use case.

What are alternatives to Persona? +

Top alternatives include Onfido (strong document verification), Sumsub (broader compliance platform), Jumio (simpler standalone verification), and Veriff (basic identity verification). Choose based on your specific need: Persona excels at workflow orchestration and fraud prevention.

Who uses Persona? +

Persona serves high-growth B2B platforms, fintech companies, and regulated businesses including Square, DoorDash, Coursera, Robinhood, Gusto, BlockFi, Brex, LinkedIn, Block, and OpenAI. Typical customers are Series B+ companies with significant compliance or fraud prevention needs.

How does Persona compare to Onfido? +

Both offer document and biometric verification, but Persona differentiates with proprietary liveness technology, a sophisticated graph tool for detecting fraud patterns across linked identities, and more advanced workflow automation for orchestrating complex compliance processes. Onfido is stronger for simple document verification workflows.