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Cognito

AcquiredYC S14YC Top Company

San Francisco, US · Founded 2013 · 12 employees · 11 known investors

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Cognito provides an identity verification system that confirms a user's name, date of birth, address, phone, and Social Security Number starting from just a phone number. It aims to reduce friction in the verification process while building trust.

Also known as BlockScore, Inc · BlockScore

CybersecurityDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareFintechSaaSB2BIdentityUnited States of AmericaAmerica / CanadaFully Remote

Founders & leadership· Y Combinator alumni (S14)

Cognito was founded in 2013 by Alain Meier, John Backus, and Christopher Morton.

AMAlain Meier
Alain MeierCo-Founder, CEO2013–2022Alain Meier co-founded Cognito, which was acquired by Plaid in 2022.
JBJohn Backus
John BackusCo-Founder, CTO2013–2022John Backus founded Cognito, which was acquired by Plaid in 2022, where he served as CTO.
CMChristopher Morton
Christopher MortonCo-founder · President and COOFounder, President, and COO of Cognito, which offers identity verification and anti-fraud tools for consumer and business onboarding. His stated areas of expertise include technical marketing, competitive strategy, business development, technology management, angel investing and seed funding, brand management, and mobile telephony.
DGDaniel Gollahon
Daniel GollahonEngineer
EO
Eugene OttoEngineer
XG
X'Zavierr GarlandRecruitingformer
JT
Jesse TinsleyTalentformer

Investors · 11

Y Combinatorlisted by Y CombinatorSan Francisco · $500K

How we know: the Y Combinator directory · open dataset · 5k.vc investor directory · Not right? Tell us

Battery VenturesreportedBoston · $500K – $100M

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Berggruen HoldingsreportedLos Angeles · $200M

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Boost VCreportedSan Mateo · $500K

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Draper AssociatesreportedSan Mateo · $500K – $5M

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Hard YakareportedMuir Beach

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

HaystackreportedSan Francisco · $1M – $3M

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Khosla VenturesreportedMenlo Park · $100K – $20M

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Lightspeed Venture PartnersreportedMenlo Park · $1M – $5M

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

The Mochary Groupreported

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Funding

SEC filings, press & company announcements
  • Undisclosed amountSeries B extensionJan 2024
    Source ↗

Source: company announcements and press reports — follow each round's link for the claim.

The YC application· Summer 2014 batch

▶ Demo Day video — watch on YC ↗

Images

Cognito photo

Related companies · 10

AiPriseAiPrise provides AI-powered compliance and risk management software for KYB/KYC processes, covering fraud prevention and regulatory compliance. The platform serves compliance teams across regulated industries and consolidates data from 100+ global sources covering 200+ countries.
ExperianExperian offers consumers tools to access their credit report and FICO Score, build credit, and manage money, including credit card matching, bill and subscription negotiation, car insurance comparison, and a digital checking account with debit card. It serves individual U.S. consumers through its app and financial products.
TrueBizTrueBiz provides AI-powered automated analysis of business legitimacy and risk profiles by synthesizing data from the merchant's internet footprint, designed for payments providers and financial services organizations during customer onboarding.
PluttoPlutto is a risk assessment platform that verifies financial, legal, labor, and regulatory risks of counterparties using official sources in real-time. The platform consolidates the entire evaluation process from hiring request through monitoring, with AI-powered pattern detection and automated reporting.
Idme
Dojah IncDojah provides end-to-end customer onboarding and identity verification services for businesses operating in Africa. The platform enables companies to verify and securely onboard customers across borders while maintaining compliance with regulations.
PremblyPrembly provides an API that enables digital businesses to verify the identities of individuals and companies across emerging market regions.
VeriffVeriff provides an AI-based identity verification platform that helps organizations verify users, prevent fraud, and stay compliant across the customer journey. It serves businesses in financial services, marketplaces, mobility, the gig economy, and other digital sectors operating across multiple markets.
SocureSocure provides an AI-driven platform for digital identity verification, fraud prevention, and risk decisioning, serving enterprises and government agencies across financial services, gaming, healthcare, e-commerce, and other sectors. The platform uses machine learning to achieve high accuracy in identity verification and fraud detection across customer onboarding, authentication, and regulatory compliance workflows.
PlaidPlaid provides financial infrastructure and APIs that enable developers to build financial technology products and services. The platform serves fintech companies, developers, and financial institutions by offering consumer-facing applications and backend tools for financial data connectivity.

Companies working in the same space as Cognito.

Legal entities · 1

corporate structure
BlockScore, Inc

In the news

Plaid buys Cognito as it moves beyond merely connecting accounts – TechCrunchtechcrunch.com · Jan 2022

Frequently asked questions

What does Cognito do?
Cognito provides an identity verification system that confirms a user's name, date of birth, address, phone, and Social Security Number starting from just a phone number. It aims to reduce friction in the verification process while building trust.
Who founded Cognito?
Cognito was founded by Alain Meier, John Backus, Christopher Morton in 2013.
Who are Cognito's investors?
Cognito's investors include Digital Currency Group, Y Combinator, Battery Ventures, Berggruen Holdings, Boost VC, Draper Associates, Hard Yaka, Haystack and 3 more.
Where is Cognito headquartered?
Cognito is headquartered in San Francisco, US.