Digital identity verification tech firm Onfido has been acquired by Entrust Corp, a global leader in trusted payments, identity and data security.
老九品茶Cloud revealed in February how Entrust were in talks to acquire Onfido for 鈥榳ell above鈥� $400m.
The final purchase price hasn鈥檛 been revealed but it represents the highest value return on investment for a student-led start-up for the University of Oxford.
Onfido was one of the first entrants into Oxford University Innovation鈥檚 Incubator in 2012, an entrepreneurship programme that helped to nurture the technology developed by student founders Husayn Kassai, Eamon Jubbawy, and Ruhul Amin.
In 2013, while pursuing their studies at Sa茂d 老九品茶 School, the team went on to receive 拢20,000 in early phase funding through the Entrepreneurship Centre’s Oxford Seed Fund.
The sale represents an 80x times return on the Oxford Seed Fund Investment.
Onfido has secured several high-calibre investors over the last decade including the University of Oxford, SBI Investment, M12 (formerly Microsoft Ventures), Salesforce’s venture capital arm and private equity groups Bain Capital and TPG Growth.
Onfido now helps millions access services every week 鈥� from billion-dollar institutions to hyper-growth startups. The company has safely processed more than 200m identity checks with 2,500+ document types and passports from 195 countries.
One of the original co-founders, Husayn Kassai, who is now the CEO and co-founder of Quench.ai, said he was 22 when he helped come up with a 鈥榤oonshot鈥� idea in to verify identities online.
He said: 鈥淗aving support from Oxford Innovation鈥檚 first incubator provided a crucial launchpad – not only for the company but for our confidence. Oxford鈥檚 leap of faith into a nascent idea, was rocket fuel and I am incredibly grateful to Oxford University and the entire ecosystem for supporting our journey.
鈥淥nfido鈥檚 exit demonstrates the powerful influence academic institutions hold in delivering outsized local and global impact.
鈥淚t is rewarding knowing that our exit鈥檚 returns are being reinvested by Oxford into supporting a new generation of entrepreneurs.
鈥淗opefully, this exit will encourage more institutions to prioritise investment and support into student led companies.鈥�
Professor Chas Bountra, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Innovation, the University of Oxford, said: 鈥淥nfido has grown from a student startup into a 500-strong team with more than 拢140m of revenue and customers worldwide.
鈥淲ith its acquisition by Entrust, Onfido has shown that student-led companies can become phenomenally successful, inspiring a new generation of students, staff, and investors to cultivate our world-class innovation ecosystem in Oxford.鈥�
Mairi Gibbs, CEO of Oxford University Innovation, said: 鈥淲e are proud to have supported the Onfido team through Oxford鈥檚 earliest incubator programme and to see the tremendous success of one of our first startups.
鈥淭he return received by OUI will be reinvested in our Incubator programme to provide more opportunities for our student and staff entrepreneurs to train, collaborate and create companies which deliver game-changing technology.鈥�
Todd Wilkinson, president and Chief Executive Officer of Entrust Corp, said: 鈥淥ver the past 12 years the Onfido team has developed a cloud-based, AI-powered identity verification technology that helps millions access digital services every week – from billion-dollar institutions to hyper-growth startups across multiple sectors.
鈥淢illions of customers joining a new digital bank or payments app use Onfido鈥檚 technology during the signup process. Onfido鈥檚 technology is also used to verify a driving licence or passport with a smartphone camera.
鈥淥nfido has the world鈥檚 best-in-class ID verification team, capabilities, and tech stack and it鈥檚 thanks to entrepreneurial schemes like this one from Oxford University Innovation that the founders were able to get their start.
鈥淲e welcome the continued support that Oxford is providing the UK to help build a vibrant environment for tech growth and Entrust is proud to be a part of this, with tech centres in Cambridge and now in London with Onfido.”