UK digital ID company OneID has closed a multi-million pound funding round as it examines opportunities emerging from the British government’s legislative agenda.
The company has raised a total of £16m from 200 angel investors based in the UK, Sweden and the US. Angel CoFund (ACF), a UK-focused £100m investment fund, has been confirmed as a key participant.
OneID states that the investment will be used to support its growth plans, with expanding its customer base a primary objective. It hopes to further build on the widespread use of digital ID in the UK at a time of government and industry support for these initiatives.
Paula Sussex, CEO of OneID, remarked: “At OneID, our goal is to make the world safer by making digital identity verification more efficient and accessible for businesses and users,
“We’ve had a tremendous year in 2024 across several use cases. With our integration with Adobe set to go live with leading high-street banks in the UK, we are proving our ability to solve urgent business problems against the toughest standard-setters.
“The funding from ACF Investors is a strong vote of confidence in us as a business, and we look forward to working with the team to supercharge our growth in 2025.”
Digital ID has been placed on the UK government’s legislative agenda for 2025. One of the Labour administration’s first finance and technology bills was introduced shortly after its July 2024 election win focusing on digital ID.
Introduced to parliament around two weeks after the election, the Digital Information and Smart Data Bill, if fully approved by MPs, will create Smart Data Schemes to support customer data sharing and Digital Verification Services, the latter covering tasks like pre-employment checks and purchasing of age-controlled goods.
The British data economy represents just under 7% of the UK’s GDP, while the prospect of digital IDs being used for day-to-day transactions and activities to more in-depth government background checks could pose a unique opportunity for companies active in this area – and investors interested in it too.
In addition, both the government and payments industry are focusing heavily on fraud, with UK consumers and businesses losing in excess of £500m to fraud in the first half of 2024 alone.
Regulators and HM Treasury have both moved to address this. The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) introduced new reimbursement requirements last year and is going to consult on further measures, while the Treasury granted banks new fraud prevention powers in H2 last year.
“The government’s growing focus on digital identity underscores the market’s need for simple and effective identification solutions,” said Tim Mills, Managing Partner at ACF Investors.
“OneID is delivering exactly that, enabling both fraud prevention and regulatory compliance for financial institutions. We are delighted to follow on from our initial investment in 2023 and look forward to supporting the team as they grow.”
