Kirk Simpson and Peter Carrescia raised $6.5 million to launch company in August 2022.
Toronto-based identity verification Confirm officially launched its identity verification product on Wednesday, aimed at making peer-to-peer selling over online marketplaces safer.
Confirm sets itself apart from Trulioo and Certn, who rely on business clients, by targeting the average buyer and seller on platforms such as Facebook Marketplace.
Confirm was founded by former Wave CEO Kirk Simpson and early Wave investor Peter Carrescia as Qui Identity in August 2022, less than two months after Simpson stepped down as Wave CEO after leading it to a $537-million CAD exit in 2019.
“I know I don’t do well with idle time,” Simpson told BetaKit at the time.
The startup was immediately armed with $6.5 million in funding for what was essentially just an idea: accelerate the adoption of decentralized identity and make it easier for both consumers and businesses to control how they share their digital information.
Confirm says its newly launched platform allows people to create a verified digital ID, called a ConfirmID, by submitting a headshot and government-issued document, which is then verified by Persona. Users can then create a transaction with their ConfirmID and send it as a link when facilitating an online transaction, which will prove the identity of the buyer and seller without oversharing personal information.
“By helping people be sure that the stranger they’re interacting with is who they say they are, Confirm instantly increases the safety and peace of mind in an online transaction,” Simpson said in a statement.
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In addition to its central identity features, Confirm offers other features that help determine the owner of a Facebook account, payment terms, and meeting places for in-person transactions.
Digital identification verification has had an active year, with Canadian companies Trulioo and Certn making Deloitte’s Enterprise-Industry Leaders and Fast 50 lists, respectively, for their three-year revenue growth rate.
The placement followed Trulioo unveiling capabilities to accelerate person-matching with artificial intelligence in August, while Certn grew its European presence in November by acquiring Trustmatic, a European remote identity verification company.
Confirm sets itself apart from Trulioo and Certn, who rely on business clients, by targeting the average buyer and seller on platforms such as Facebook Marketplace. As Confirm’s head of strategy, Carrescia sees applications beyond the online classifieds.
“We envision a future where Confirm’s verified portable identity, as well as other verified authentic data, will be available to use in online environments and interactions, ranging from social media to financial services, talent management, and commerce,” he said in a statement.
Feature image courtesy Confirm via its website.
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