Sells businesses, including banks, fintechs and credit unions, a configurable SaaS identity platform for KYC/KYB onboarding, re-verification, watchlist screening and fraud investigation, priced by plan and volume, and since October 2026 adds AI agents that review identity cases.
What is Persona, and which banks use it?
Persona, founded 2018 in San Francisco, is a private identity verification and KYC/KYB platform valued at $2 billion after a $200 million Series D co-led by Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital in April 2025. None of our 100 banks is publicly named as a customer: its one bank case study is an unnamed Midwestern regional bank, and its named financial customers are fintechs such as Square and Brex. Persona publishes pricing: the Essential plan starts at $250 a month with a 12-month minimum term.
Category
Founded
2018
Headquarters
San Francisco, California, US
Ownership
Private (Persona Identities, Inc.); Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital co-led the $200 million Series D in April 2025, with existing investors BOND, Coatue, First Round Capital, Index Ventures and Chemistry. Founders Fund also led the 2021 Series C, Index Ventures the 2021 Series B, and Coatue and First Round the 2020 Series A. Last disclosed valuation: $2 billion (April 2025); no acquisition or later round has been announced.[14][9][8][7]
Deployment
SaaS (cloud platform with API, webhooks and a no-code dashboard; EU data residency available)
Pricing
Annual platform plans (Essential, Growth, Enterprise) with volume-based pricing for verifications and reports; Essential is self-serve, Growth and Enterprise are quoted by sales
Banks among the 120
0
- Founded in 2018 in San Francisco by Rick Song (CEO, formerly an engineer at Square) and Charles Yeh (CTO, formerly at Dropbox).
- Raised $17.5 million in a Series A (January 2020, Coatue and First Round Capital), $50 million in a Series B (May 2021, led by Index Ventures), $150 million in a Series C at a $1.5 billion valuation (September 2021, led by Founders Fund) and $200 million in a Series D at a $2 billion valuation (April 2025, co-led by Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital).
- Persona publishes self-serve pricing: the Essential plan starts at $250 a month with a 12-month minimum term; Growth and Enterprise plans are quoted on request, and a Startup Program offers 500 free verifications a month for up to 12 months to eligible startups.
- Persona's only published bank case study is anonymised: an employee-owned regional bank in the Midwestern US that, Persona says, cut its online account-opening application time from an average of 12 minutes to five (vendor-reported).
- In June 2024 credit-union core host Member Driven Technologies (MDT) partnered with Persona to offer its identity verification to MDT's credit-union clients; Hershey FCU's CEO is quoted as a user.
- In February 2026 Discord ended a limited UK age-verification test of Persona after user backlash, and researchers found Persona front-end code publicly accessible on a government-authorized endpoint; Persona's CEO told Fortune the files were uncompressed front-end code, not a vulnerability.
- On October 29, 2026 Persona launched Persona AI (Persona Assistant, Persona Agents and Persona Extend), saying it had been tested with more than 30 early-access customers and that Persona has verified roughly 1 billion identities (vendor-reported).
What does Persona sell to banks?
| Product | What it does | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Identity verification (government ID, selfie, database and document checks)[19][1] | Government ID verification for documents from 200+ countries and territories, selfie liveness detection against presentation attacks and deepfakes, and database checks against authoritative sources in 40+ countries, including AAMVA DMV and SSA eCBSV checks in the US. | Generally available |
| KYB and business fraud prevention[13][1] | Business registry, TIN, business website and UBO verification, with more than 40 risk signals from standard business verification data and link analysis across businesses and their beneficial owners; next-generation release March 6, 2025. | Generally available |
| Reports: watchlists, sanctions, PEP and adverse media[1][3] | Watchlist and sanctions, adverse media, email, phone and address reports for individuals and businesses, with recurring report runs to rescreen an existing customer base against sanctions lists. | Generally available |
| Workflows, Cases and Graph[1][16] | No-code workflows that approve, block or route verifications to manual review, case management with assignment policies, SLAs and SAR filing features, and Graph, a node-based view of linked accounts for finding fraud rings. | Generally available |
| Persona Wallet (Reusable Personas)[10][22] | Passkey-based storage of a user's verified identity data so it can be reused across Persona customers, with network risk signals; launched October 23, 2023 as Reusable Personas and since renamed Persona Wallet. | Generally available |
| Persona AI (Persona Assistant, Persona Agents, Persona Extend)[21] | Case Review Agents that gather evidence and recommend decisions against a customer's policies, Policy Agents that turn requirements into workflows, a natural-language Assistant over identity data, and MCP and CLI connectors (Extend); launched October 29, 2026. | Generally available |
| AirKey verification (Capital One card tap)[5] | A step-up check in which a user taps a Capital One credit or debit card to a phone; Persona reads the NFC chip and Capital One returns verified cardholder data. Capital One is the data source here, not a named Persona customer. | Beta |
How much does Persona cost?
How it is charged: Annual platform plans (Essential, Growth, Enterprise) with volume-based pricing for verifications and reports; Essential is self-serve, Growth and Enterprise are quoted by sales.
| Product | Plan | List price | Unit | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Persona identity platform | Essential[1] | Starting at $250/month | minimum contract term of 12 months; templated identity services, self-guided integration, email support | Nov 2, 2026 |
| Persona Startup Program (eligible startups and small businesses only) | General cohort[2] | $0 for 500 Government ID (with optional Selfie) verifications and 1,000 Relay services a month; $1 for each additional service | per service, for up to 12 months | Nov 2, 2026 |
| Persona Startup Program (eligible startups and small businesses only) | Fintech cohort[2] | Free monthly allotment, then $1.50 per additional service | per service, for up to 12 months; adds watchlist and PEP reports | Nov 2, 2026 |
Persona publishes a starting price only for its Essential plan; Growth and Enterprise prices are not published and are quoted after contacting sales, with volume-based pricing for verification and report types. The Startup Program prices apply only to eligible startups and small businesses, not to banks.
Which banks use Persona?
None of the 120 largest US banks covered on this site is publicly named as a Persona customer as of Nov 3, 2026. Customers the company names are listed in the key points above.
Among the 120 largest US banks on this site, from sources that name the bank: the bank, Persona or the press. Status is the furthest stage a source confirms.
What is Persona identity platform?
One platform that collects and verifies identity data (government ID, selfie liveness, authoritative databases, documents, business registries), runs watchlist, sanctions, PEP and adverse-media reports, and routes results through configurable workflows, case management (including SAR filing features) and Graph link analysis for fraud rings; Persona AI agents (October 2026) review cases against a customer's own policies.[1][3][21][23]
What has Persona done, and when?
- Oct 29, 2026
Launches Persona AI agents[21]
Persona launched Persona Assistant, Persona Agents and Persona Extend; it says Parafin's median KYC review time fell about 95%, from roughly 18 hours to under one hour, using Case Review Agents (vendor-reported).
- Aug 4, 2026
Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader for a second year[20]
Persona said Gartner named it a Leader in the 2026 Magic Quadrant for Identity Verification, positioned highest for Ability to Execute among 12 vendors; it also listed Candidate Verification, Relay and EUDI wallet support among the year's launches.
- May 19, 2026
FedRAMP Moderate Authorization[19]
Persona attained FedRAMP Moderate Authorization for federal benefits enrollment, account recovery and workforce onboarding.
- Feb 23, 2026
Discord ends Persona test after backlash[17][18]
Discord said its limited UK age-verification test of Persona had concluded after user backlash; researchers had found about 2,500 Persona front-end files on a government-authorized endpoint. Persona's CEO said the files were uncompressed front-end code and that the company has no government contracts.
- Oct 7, 2025
FedRAMP Authorized at the Low impact level[16]
Persona achieved FedRAMP Authorized status at the Low impact level and FedRAMP Ready status at the Moderate level, opening federal-agency sales.
- Apr 30, 2025
- Mar 6, 2025
Next-generation KYB and business fraud solution[13]
Persona extended its unified KYC-KYB platform with business-impersonation detection, fraud-ring link analysis across beneficial owners and continuous monitoring for account takeover.
- Jan 22, 2025
Upgrades AI face-spoof detection[12]
Persona expanded its deepfake and synthetic-face detection and said it helped customers detect and block over 75 million fraud attempts using AI-based face spoofs in 2024.
- Jun 11, 2024
Credit-union partnership with MDT[11]
Member Driven Technologies, a credit-union service organization hosting Jack Henry's Symitar core, partnered with Persona to offer its identity verification to MDT's credit-union clients.
- Oct 23, 2023
Launches Reusable Personas[10]
Persona launched Reusable Personas, passkey-based storage that lets a verified user reuse identity data across Persona customers, which businesses can supplement with step-up checks and network risk signals.
- Sep 15, 2021
$150 million Series C at a $1.5 billion valuation[9]
Founders Fund led a $150 million Series C with Meritech Capital Partners, BOND, Index Ventures and Coatue, bringing total funding to $217.5 million; Persona said revenue grew 20x in the prior year.
- May 4, 2021
$50 million Series B led by Index Ventures[8]
Index Ventures led a $50 million Series B with Coatue; Persona said revenue had grown more than 10 times year over year and named Square, Robinhood, Brex and BlockFi among customers.
- Jan 28, 2020
$17.5 million Series A[7]
Persona raised a $17.5 million Series A from investors including Coatue and First Round Capital; named customers included fintechs Petal, Branch and Brex.
- Jan 1, 2018
What do banks use Persona for?
| Use | What it does | Status | Use case |
|---|---|---|---|
| KYC/CIP and KYB at account opening[4][13] | Government ID, selfie and database verification for digital account opening, plus business registry, TIN and UBO checks for business customers. | In production | AML / KYC |
| Sanctions, PEP and adverse-media screening[3][1] | Watchlist, PEP and adverse-media reports at onboarding and recurring rescreening of the customer base to meet BSA/AML requirements. | In production | AML / KYC |
| Onboarding and account-takeover fraud[12][3][1] | Deepfake and face-spoof detection, behavioral and device signals, re-verification before large transactions and account recovery, and Graph link analysis of fraud rings. | In production | Fraud detection |
| AI case review agents[21] | Case Review Agents that check KYC and KYB evidence against an institution's own policies and recommend decisions, with exceptions routed to people. | In production | Generative & agentic AI |
| Reusable identity and data minimisation[10][1] | Persona Wallet lets verified users reuse identity data across Persona customers, and configurable redaction and retention policies limit what an institution keeps. | In production | Data & privacy |
What has Persona disclosed in numbers?
| Metric | Value | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Valuation | $2 billion, after a $200 million Series D[14] | Apr 30, 2025 |
| Customers (vendor-reported) | More than 3,000; customer count and revenue both doubled over the prior year[15] | Apr 30, 2025 |
| Identities verified and fraud attempts stopped (vendor-reported) | Roughly 1 billion identities verified; more than 300 million fraud attempts stopped[21] | Oct 29, 2026 |
| AI face-spoof attempts detected in 2024 (vendor-reported) | Over 75 million[12] | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Total funding after Series C | $217.5 million (before the $200 million Series D)[9] | Sep 15, 2021 |
| Regional bank application time (vendor-reported) | From an average of 12 minutes to five minutes, six months after deployment[4] | Nov 2, 2026 |
| Persona AI early-access customers (vendor-reported) | More than 30, including Zillow and Etsy[21] | Oct 29, 2026 |
“AI can't fight AI-powered attacks on its own”[21]
Rick Song · CEO and co-founder, Persona · Oct 29, 2026
“So much of what we used to have to do manually, we can now do automatically with Persona.”[4]
Deposit operations manager (unnamed) · Regional bank customer, quoted by Persona · Nov 2, 2026
“I don’t think having uncompressed files online is good”[18]
Rick Song · CEO and co-founder, Persona, to Fortune · Feb 24, 2026
Who runs Persona?
Which rules apply to a bank using Persona?
| Authority | Why it matters here | Documents |
|---|---|---|
| FinCEN | Persona runs the identity verification and sanctions/PEP screening a bank uses for its customer identification program and BSA/AML checks, and its liveness checks are sold against the deepfake ID and selfie fraud FinCEN's 2024 alert describes; the CIP and AML obligations stay with the bank. | FIN-2024-Alert004 (Deepfake Media) 2018 Joint Statement on BSA/AML Innovation |
| OCC | A bank sending applicants' ID images, selfies and SSN-based database checks to Persona takes on third-party risk OCC Bulletin 2023-17 expects it to manage, including data security, which the February 2026 exposed front-end episode puts in scope; OCC Bulletin 2026-13 covers vendor models such as Persona's face-match and fraud-signal scoring. | OCC Bulletin 2023-17 OCC Bulletin 2026-13 |
| Federal Reserve | Persona's selfie-to-ID matching, liveness and risk scores are vendor models a bank must inventory, validate and monitor under SR 26-2 when they decide onboarding; the Case Review Agents launched in October 2026 fall to the bank's broader risk management, since SR 26-2 leaves generative and agentic AI outside its scope. | SR 26-2 |
Linked authorities have a page in the Regulation tracker; the others are named for completeness.
What should a bank note before buying Persona?
Analysis by BankingNewsAI from the sources cited on this page. Observations, not advice or a recommendation.
01
An entry price is published, enterprise pricing is not
Persona lists the Essential plan from $250 a month on a 12-month term, but the Growth and Enterprise plans that include KYB, Graph and third-party marketplace apps are quoted by sales, with volume-based charges per verification and report.
02
No large-bank customer is named
Persona's named financial customers are fintechs (Square, Brex, Branch, Robinhood in earlier releases); its bank case study is anonymised and its credit-union reach comes through partners such as MDT.
03
Results are vendor-reported
The regional bank's 12-to-5-minute application time, the 75 million face-spoof detections and Parafin's 95% review-time cut come from Persona's own materials and are not independently audited.
04
Data handling drew public scrutiny in 2026
Discord ended a UK test of Persona in February 2026 after user backlash and the discovery of publicly accessible front-end code; Persona said no vulnerability was involved. Retention and redaction settings are configurable per customer.
05
Persona sells well beyond banking
Persona's releases emphasise age assurance, workforce and candidate verification, marketplaces and AI platforms such as OpenAI and LinkedIn alongside fintech, so banking-specific references are fewer than at bank-focused vendors.
What are the alternatives to Persona?
Alloy
Identity and fraud prevention platform: onboarding KYC/KYB, fraud and login risk scoring, AML monitoring and data orchestration.
Socure
Identity verification, fraud scoring and watchlist screening for account opening and login, run on its RiskOS decisioning platform.
Jumio
Identity verification platform: ID and selfie checks, liveness and deepfake detection, AML screening and continuous identity monitoring.
Mitek
Mobile check deposit capture, check fraud scoring and identity verification (document, selfie, liveness, deepfake detection) for banks.
Prove Identity
Phone-based identity verification and authentication: Pre-Fill onboarding, passive authentication and AI-agent verification.
Sardine
Fraud and AML platform: device and behavioral signals, transaction monitoring, sanctions screening and AI agents for alert review.
How much does Persona cost?
Persona publishes a starting price for one plan. Its Essential plan starts at $250 a month with a minimum contract term of 12 months and covers templated identity services with self-guided integration. The Growth and Enterprise plans, which add KYB, Graph, third-party marketplace apps and custom multi-product pricing, are quoted on request, and verifications and reports are priced by volume. Eligible startups can get 500 free verifications a month for up to 12 months, then $1 or $1.50 per service.
Which banks use Persona?
None of the 100 largest US banks we track is publicly named as a Persona customer. Persona's only bank case study is anonymised: an employee-owned regional bank in the Midwestern US that uses Persona for digital account opening. Its named financial customers are fintechs such as Square and Brex, and credit unions reach it through partners such as Member Driven Technologies. Persona also offers a Capital One AirKey card-tap check, which uses Capital One as a data source rather than as a customer.
Who owns Persona?
Persona Identities, Inc. is privately held. Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital co-led its $200 million Series D in April 2025, which valued it at $2 billion, with existing investors BOND, Coatue, First Round Capital, Index Ventures and Chemistry. Founders Fund also led its 2021 Series C and Index Ventures its 2021 Series B. Co-founders Rick Song (CEO) and Charles Yeh (CTO) run the company. No acquisition or later funding round has been announced.
Is Persona a bank?
No. Persona says it is not a bank and does not hold or manage money; it is an identity verification service that checks a person's identity on behalf of the business that asked them to verify. A bank that uses Persona remains responsible for its own customer identification, KYC and BSA/AML obligations, and oversees Persona as a third-party vendor.
What happened between Persona and Discord?
In February 2026 Discord said a limited UK age-verification test with Persona had concluded, after user backlash over how ID images would be handled. Researchers separately reported about 2,500 Persona front-end files accessible on a government-authorized endpoint. Persona's CEO told Fortune the files were uncompressed front-end code rather than a vulnerability, and told Ars Technica, as reported by The Verge, that data from Discord's test was deleted after verification.
What is Persona AI?
Persona AI is a suite launched on October 29, 2026: Persona Assistant answers questions about an organization's identity data, Persona Agents review cases and turn policies into workflows, and Persona Extend connects outside AI tools through MCP and CLI connectors. Persona says it was tested with more than 30 early-access customers and that embedded-financing provider Parafin cut median KYC review time by about 95% with Case Review Agents.
How does Persona differ from Alloy?
Persona builds its own verification checks (government ID, selfie liveness, database and business checks) and adds workflows, case management and Graph on top, and it publishes an entry plan price. Alloy is mainly a decisioning and orchestration platform that connects banks to hundreds of third-party data vendors and does not publish pricing. Both sell KYC, KYB and fraud tools to banks, credit unions and fintechs.
- Pricing Structure and Plan Breakdowns
- Identity Verification Tools for Startups and Small Business
- Secure Identity Verification for Financial Institutions
- Regional Bank Streamlined KYC/AML with Persona
- Capital One Airkey Verification
- Designing an app builder with server-driven UI
- Persona raises $17.5M for an identify verification platform that goes beyond user IDs and passwords
- Persona Secures $50M in Series B Funding to Become the Identity Layer of the Internet
- Persona Closes $150 Million Round Led by Founders Fund To Scale the World's First Trusted Identity Infrastructure
- Persona Introduces Industry-First Reusable Identity Solution with Dynamic Risk Signals
- MDT Partners with Persona, Empowering Credit Unions to Better Fight Fraud
- Persona unveils significant advances in detection of AI-based face spoofs
- Persona Unveils Industry-First Business Fraud Prevention Solution
- Persona raises $200M at $2B valuation to build the verified identity layer for an agentic AI world
- Identity verification startup Persona raises $200M at $2B valuation
- Persona Achieves FedRAMP® Authorized Status to Expand Identity Verification Solutions for Federal Agencies
- Discord distances itself from Persona age verification after user backlash
- Discord distances itself from Peter Thiel–backed verification software after its code was found on a Google Cloud endpoint
- Persona attains FedRAMP® Moderate Authorization status
- Persona named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Identity Verification
- Persona Introduces Persona AI, Advancing Its Vision for the Next Era of Identity
- Faster verifications and less risk with Persona Wallet
- Is Persona a bank?
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