This UK Startup Will Help Indians Solve the Digital Identity Puzzle Once It Launches in 2017

By Aashika Jain | Nov 26, 2016
Entrepreneur India

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The UK-based digital identity system, Yoti, is set to step its foot in India in 2017.

Speaking on the sidelines of India Fintech Awards, which are supported by Entrepreneur Media, Yoti’s management said it was eyeing India as its next market and will work with users’ Aadhaar and pan cards to establish data.

The London-based stealth startup, which was founded in 2014, is funded by founders Robin Tombs and Noel Hayden. The third founder and investor is Duncan Francis.

Tombs and Hayden made their money founding UK online bingo firm Gamesys in 2001, one of whose sub-brands was sold on for $640 million in 2015.

Just Yoti it/him/her

Yoti calls itself your ID, on your phone.

Yoti works on a very simple identity model which aims to provide a simple and secure way of proving identities, online and face to face.

The identity app puts the user in control of his/her data and enables them to break free from the traditional password punching. Yoti allows users to use selfies as passwords and enables them to confirm who they talking to online. The users can also prove their age with their phones.

The details shared by Yoti are real. The company says its software makes sure that selfies can only be of, and taken by, real people. Phone numbers are verified by a text message, and other details are matched against government issued documents.

It carefully examines the government documents, and work with other background checkers to make sure all details are reliable.

It also boasts of use the best facial recognition technology available, the same that is used by European border control.

Yoti could prove be a cheaper substitute of the current identity verification methods, which are is cumbersome and costly.

The UK-based digital identity system, Yoti, is set to step its foot in India in 2017.

Speaking on the sidelines of India Fintech Awards, which are supported by Entrepreneur Media, Yoti’s management said it was eyeing India as its next market and will work with users’ Aadhaar and pan cards to establish data.

The London-based stealth startup, which was founded in 2014, is funded by founders Robin Tombs and Noel Hayden. The third founder and investor is Duncan Francis.

Aashika Jain

Former Associate Editor, Entrepreneur India
Entrepreneur Staff
Journalist in the making since 2006! My fastest fingers have worked for India's business news channel CNBC-TV18, global news wire Thomson Reuters, the digital arm of India's biggest newspaper The Economic Times and Entrepreneur India as the Digital Head.

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