What was the catalyst for launching Authologic?
In a word: Covid. The pandemic exacerbated every existing issue with ID verification online and accelerated every conceivable timeline for addressing it. Even prior to the pandemic, online ID verification made no sense. Taking a photo of a plastic ID using your phone and uploading it was neither secure nor convenient, but nothing was prompting governments or businesses to change. Covid forced the issue, and AI is currently delivering the final blow to ID verification via phone photos for good.
Tell us about the business – what it is, what it aims to achieve, who you work with, how you reach customers and so on?
Authologic is a digital identity verification company that provides a sophisticated aggregation and orchestration layer for electronic identification. Our layer is easy to integrate and significantly more secure than standard KYC verification processes like uploading photos of a plastic ID card. We’re creating an electronic identification layer that enhances privacy and is smarter than AI fraud and deepfakes. While designing infrastructure for e-IDs is our primary focus, we understand that not everyone has e-IDs. That’s why we also orchestrate new AI-proof methods with legacy systems.
We work with businesses that depend on KYC and anti-money laundering (AML) compliance. Many of our clients are in sectors like financial services, gaming, and crypto. For businesses, we provide a single integration for secure, unified e-ID verification across all their connected systems, and we ensure regulatory compliance. Not only is this good for fraud prevention and privacy protection, it also streamlines customer onboarding and lowers operational costs. I think it’s fair to say more and more businesses are seeing the value, and so far Authologic is being used 150,000 times per day.
How has the business evolved since its launch? When was this?
We started in late 2020, which was still early days in the pandemic. Our business has evolved alongside changing regulations and expanding use cases. There are companies that use us for e-ID verification that we could have never imagined collaborating with when we started. For instance, HomeGirl helps women get home safe by providing a network of other women to communicate with while in transit. To verify the women in their network, we facilitate zero-knowledge proofs that would be otherwise impossible to achieve without e-IDs.
Tell us about the working culture at Authologic
Above all, we are building a culture of meritocracy. I think our culture also reflects our product, which is to say it’s international, forward-thinking, and techno-optimistic.
How are you funded?
We recently raised $8.2M Series A led by OpenOcean with participation from YCombinator, Peak Capital and SMOK VC.
What has been your biggest challenge so far and how have you overcome this?
Scaling a company always comes with difficulties, regardless of your industry. e-ID technology, regulation, and adoption is moving in a lot of different directions at once, and we’ve had to scale in sync with that. Working with government agencies has also been a challenge, but it’s also been to our benefit. Governments across the world know us now.
How does Authologic answer an unmet need?
We started Authologic with the specific intention of replacing the photo-based KYC process. With time we realized that the KYC/AML world resembles the digital payments sector, where orchestration and aggregation is key. It led us to broaden our mission. Now we want to build Stripe for KYC.
What’s in store for the future?
We want to triple our revenue and lead the eID Hub market segment. We want to be the most reliable e-ID verification platform in the world.
What one piece of advice would you give other founders or future founders?
Focus on a problem, not a solution. Developing a solution and then trying to squeeze it into the box of a semi-related problem will never work. Oh, and make something people want.
And finally, a more personal question! What’s your daily routine and the rules you’re living by at the moment?
When I’m not travelling, I’m up around 7:20 am. I drive my kids to school around 7:40, and we listen to a podcast or audiobook on the way. Back at home, I start my workday with our team standup, then plan the rest of my day around meetings and requests to review documents, designs, and so on. Lunch is at noon, and I take some of my afternoon meetings on walks if I’m lucky. On days I have meetings with the US, I’ll finish around 7 or 8 pm. I try not to work much later than that, although sometimes you just need to finish something. I get out in my garden every day, especially during spring and summer. I’m not sure this is a rule, but I find being outside essential to feeling centered.
Jarek Sygitowicz is the cofounder and Chief Strategy Officer at Authologic.
