Passbase gets USD 3.6 million to build its full-stack identity engine with a privacy twist

The product that the startup aims to develop is dubbed ‘Stripe for identity verification’, meaning it is offering APIs to enable developers to plug and integrate a range of consumer-friendly identity checks, such as selfie video scans and identity document scanning, into their digital services.

Passbase is itself plugging into ID document verification services from a range of partners, augmented with add-ons such as a liveness check. The company’s end goal is to become a trusted intermediary exchange later between businesses and end users (‘consent layer’) by building out a developer platform to support the integration of verification technologies into web services, while allowing web users to limit who gets access to their actual data.

The startup plans to launch a (free) consumer app in 2020 that will provide end users with controls over the information they are sharing for ID verification and serve up insights on how it is being used, according to TechCrunch.

Passbase launched an open beta in May 2019 and has been running tests over the summer, when around 15 companies have been actively testing the platform. Earlier testers hail from industries including healthcare, gig economy and mobility.