OwnID
Acquired5 known investors
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OwnID's Liveness is a biometric verification technology that defends against fraud at the capture layer by detecting emulators, injection attacks, deepfakes, and signal manipulation, while maintaining fast user experience. It serves organizations requiring high-security identity verification and fraud prevention.
Also known as OwnID by Unico
Investors · 5
Also in the syndicate · 1
Funding
SEC filings, press & company announcementsSource: company announcements and press reports — follow each round's link for the claim.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026OwnID is an identity company whose platform combines passwordless authentication with biometric fraud prevention for consumer-facing enterprises. Its original product replaced passwords with smartphone-based biometrics: a user enters an email address on a website, chooses to skip the password, and authenticates by unlocking their phone with face or fingerprint recognition, with a cryptographic key stored on the device from first registration onward. For contexts such as television or other shared screens, the flow uses an on-screen QR code scanned with the phone. The company also added an analytics layer that tracks the login experience and reports user behavior and failure points in real time, positioning the product as a way to reduce abandonment during registration and login as well as to improve security.
Following its acquisition by Unico, the company markets an enterprise "Trust Platform" of three integrated components: real-time face liveness verification built on a "4x4" architecture of four security layers and four reaction-attack layers; a Biometric Fraud Bureau drawing on a network of more than 170 million unique identities for document-free verification and real-time biometric signal orchestration; and passwordless multi-factor authentication as a front-end layer for registration and login. Marketing materials cite a false acceptance rate of 0.000001%, a 99.5% approval rate, an average capture time of 2.5 seconds, and orchestration of more than 100 signals in real time, contrasted against competing vendors. The company also offers a fraud audit that measures a prospect's false acceptance, false rejection and conversion rates, and describes gradual migration alongside an incumbent vendor with no proprietary data formats or extraction penalties.
OwnID's developer documentation describes two integration paths: prebuilt low-code/no-code connectors for selected identity providers, and a Web SDK offering greater customization for frontends that lack a connector, with front-end and back-end components that connect to a customer's existing identity or commerce platform.
Founding story
OwnID was founded in 2020 by Dor Shany (co-founder and CEO) and Rooly Eliezerov (co-founder and CPO), both previously of Gigya, the customer identity company sold to SAP for $350 million in 2017, where Shany was one of the first employees rather than a founder. Shany has said that after about 15 years in the identity space he concluded that user identification had barely changed in decades and that roughly one in three users abandons registration because of password problems, which motivated building a frictionless alternative.
Business model
OwnID sells its authentication and fraud prevention technology to enterprises, which integrate it into existing identity or commerce stacks via API, prebuilt identity-provider connectors, or a web SDK. Its enterprise positioning includes contractual liability backing fraud claims, and prospects are engaged through a free fraud audit followed by gradual migration of a portion of live traffic.
Traction
At the time of the 2025 acquisition, OwnID processed approximately 3.5 million verifications per month and employed around 20 people across California and Tel Aviv, with customers including Nestlé, SAP, the NFL and Michael Kors. Company materials published under the OwnID by Unico brand cite protection of more than 400 enterprises, over 1 billion annual verifications, more than 170 million unique identities, over 2 billion faces analyzed and $14 billion in fraud prevented in 2025. At its 2022 launch the company had about 20 employees and early customers including Nestlé and DeLonghi; by January 2023 it reported roughly 25 employees.
Latest developments
In September 2025 Unico, a Brazilian digital identity company valued at roughly $2.6 billion, acquired OwnID for an undisclosed sum as part of a global expansion strategy; it was Unico's eighth acquisition since 2020, following deals including Oz Forensics and Trully.AI. The founders remained in charge under the OwnID by Unico brand, and the company's site now markets an enterprise identity fraud prevention platform spanning liveness detection, a biometric fraud bureau and passwordless MFA. Coverage of the deal also cited newly developed AI agent identity capabilities providing authentication, authorization and audit trails for AI agents.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
OwnID competes in customer identity, passwordless authentication and biometric anti-fraud, positioning itself against biometric verification vendors it characterizes as relying on a single image-capture signal and siloed face-fraud data. Its acquirer Unico is described as a leader in Brazil's IDTech sector, performing roughly 25 million identity verifications per month for banks, telecom operators and retailers, and was valued at about $2.6 billion at the time of the deal.
The company differentiates on the breadth of its liveness signal orchestration and the scale of its shared biometric fraud network relative to siloed vendor datasets, on low-friction user experience at high security settings, and on commercial terms including contractual liability for fraud claims, no proprietary data formats and no lock-in. Its authentication approach removes password entry entirely by leveraging biometrics already present on the user's device.
Technology
The platform is built on device-based biometric authentication using passkeys, WebAuthn, FaceID/TouchID and magic links, with cryptographic keys held on the user's phone and QR-code hand-off for cross-device logins. Fraud prevention relies on multi-signal liveness orchestration described as a 4x4 architecture (four security layers plus four reaction-attack layers) that feels passive to the user, and a biometric fraud bureau network of more than 170 million identities used for document-free verification. Company materials cite orchestration of over 100 real-time signals, iBeta Level 1 and Level 2 presentation-attack-detection testing under ISO/IEC 30107-3, SOC 2 Type II certification and ISO/IEC 27001 certification. Post-acquisition coverage also notes capabilities for AI agent identities, covering authentication, authorization and audit trails for AI agents.
Go-to-market
The company acquires enterprise customers directly, leading with a no-commitment fraud audit that quantifies a prospect's true false acceptance, false rejection and drop-off rates, then routing a small share of live production traffic through OwnID in parallel with the incumbent vendor. Technical adoption is eased through low-code connectors for common identity platforms and a web SDK for custom implementations.
Large consumer-facing enterprises and brands that operate high-volume registration, login and onboarding flows, including retail, consumer goods, media and travel; the post-acquisition positioning also addresses banks, telecom operators and retailers exposed to sophisticated identity fraud. Named customers cited in coverage and company materials include Nestlé, SAP, the NFL, Michael Kors, DeLonghi, Carnival and Johnson & Johnson.
Geography
The company operated from the United States (California) and Tel Aviv, Israel, with staff split between the two locations. Its acquirer Unico is based in Brazil, where it is a leading identity provider; the acquisition gave Unico a foothold in the U.S. and Israeli markets, and OwnID's post-acquisition materials describe securing digital identities worldwide.
History
The founders launched OwnID in 2020-2021 and announced a $6.2 million seed round led by Mayfield in April 2022, making the product publicly available for the first time that day. Mayfield had also been an early investor in Gigya, which raised more than $100 million before its sale to SAP. Cervin Ventures profiled the company in January 2023, when it had about 25 employees. In September 2025, Unico announced the acquisition of the U.S.- and Tel Aviv-based company for an undisclosed amount; the founders continued to run the business under the OwnID by Unico brand, and the offering was expanded into an enterprise fraud-prevention trust platform.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 3
launches, deals, and filingsBrazilian digital identity company Unico, valued at about $2.6 billion, acquired U.S.- and Tel Aviv-based OwnID for an undisclosed amount, adding a passwordless product to its portfolio and entering the U.S. and Israeli markets. The founders continued to manage the business under the OwnID by Unico brand. Reported as Unico's eighth acquisition since 2020.
OwnID announced a $6.2 million seed round led by Mayfield, an early investor in the founders' previous company Gigya, and made its product publicly available for the first time the same day.
$6.2M source ↗
The passwordless authentication product, which replaces passwords with smartphone-based biometrics and QR-code cross-device login, was made publicly available for the first time, with early customers including Nestlé and DeLonghi.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- OwnIDownid.com · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does OwnID do?
- OwnID, now part of Brazil's Unico, provides passwordless authentication and biometric identity fraud prevention for enterprises.
- Who are OwnID's investors?
- OwnID's investors include Cervin, Incubate US, Vela Partners, GTMfund.