Veriff: The Global Identity Infrastructure

Veriff is building the identity layer for the internet. A platform that matches a person to a government-issued ID using just a selfie, helping companies verify users instantly and prevent fraud at global scale. What began in Estonia has grown into one of the world’s leading identity verification systems, processing hundreds of millions of verifications and analyzing thousands of signals per user to stop fraud in real time. In this conversation with YC's Gustaf Alstromer, founder Kaarel Kotkas talks about going from a high school prototype to serving global fintech and marketplace companies, why identity is really an infrastructure problem, how Veriff decides who’s real, and why he sees a future where your digital passport might be issued not by governments — but by Veriff. Learn more about Veriff at https://www.veriff.com. Chapters: 00:00 – How Veriff Started in a High School Computer Lab 01:52 – Why Online Identity Is an Infrastructure Problem 04:58 – Matching IDs With a Selfie 07:10 – Fighting Fraud in Fintech & Marketplaces 10:53 – Scaling Verification to a Global Platform 15:44 – YC, Early Breakthroughs, and Hard Lessons 20:31 – Deepfakes, Signals, and the New Threat Landscape 26:33 – Building a Mission-Driven Team 32:48 – The Digital Passport Vision

Gustaf AlstromerhostKaarel Kotkasguest

Dec 9, 202539mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: December 9, 2025
Duration: 39m
Channel: YC Root Access
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Veriff is building the identity layer for the internet. A platform that matches a person to a government-issued ID using just a selfie, helping companies verify users instantly and prevent fraud at global scale. What began in Estonia has grown into one of the world’s leading identity verification systems, processing hundreds of millions of verifications and analyzing thousands of signals per user to stop fraud in real time. In this conversation with YC's Gustaf Alstromer, founder Kaarel Kotkas talks about going from a high school prototype to serving global fintech and marketplace companies, why identity is really an infrastructure problem, how Veriff decides who’s real, and why he sees a future where your digital passport might be issued not by governments — but by Veriff. Learn more about Veriff at https://www.veriff.com. Chapters: 00:00 – How Veriff Started in a High School Computer Lab 01:52 – Why Online Identity Is an Infrastructure Problem 04:58 – Matching IDs With a Selfie 07:10 – Fighting Fraud in Fintech & Marketplaces 10:53 – Scaling Verification to a Global Platform 15:44 – YC, Early Breakthroughs, and Hard Lessons 20:31 – Deepfakes, Signals, and the New Threat Landscape 26:33 – Building a Mission-Driven Team 32:48 – The Digital Passport Vision

SPEAKERS

Gustaf Alstromer
host
Host/interviewer from YC Root Access who introduces the guest and leads the conversation.
Kaarel Kotkas
guest
CEO and founder of Veriff, discussing the company’s identity verification product and origin story.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of YC Root Access, featuring Gustaf Alstromer and Kaarel Kotkas, Veriff: The Global Identity Infrastructure explores veriff’s journey building global identity verification amid fraud, deepfakes, scale Veriff verifies that a real, consenting person matches a government ID by combining selfie/ID capture with many behavioral and device signals rather than simple photo checks.

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