Onfido Acquires Airside

Onfido, a provider of automated identity verification, has acquired Airside Mobile, a provider of digital identity sharing technology. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Airside's shareable digital identity technology has been used by more than 10 million travelers and is trusted by major U.S. government agencies, including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Its customers include airlines, that allow passengers to use the Airside Digital Identity App to fast-track passengers through U.S. airports. Combined with Onfido's verification, it will enable a verify-once-use-anywhere world where customers can manage their digital identities stored on their smartphones to access new services without having to verify again.

"Until now identity verification has digitized physical processes, but those processes haven't changed. We're still handing our identity over to be checked every time we access a new service. This partnership will change that, giving users control and organizations greater confidence in who their customers are," said Mike Tuchen, CEO of Onfido, in a statement. "We plan to take Airside's proven approach to the airline industry and apply it to other sectors requiring high customer assurance, such as financial services, providing a single, trusted view of each customer's identity."

Onfido's Real Identity Platform establishes trust between governments, businesses, and people, ensuring proper onboarding, customer authentication, know-your-customer, and fraud protection. Its identity verification solutions combine document and biometric verification, trusted data sources, and fraud detection signals. The Airside Digital Identity App puts digital identity in people's hands, making their verified digital IDs secure on their devices and easily accessible.

"By teaming up with Onfido and layering in their trusted verification technology with Airside's Digital ID, we can take identity to the next level with the same ease and trust we have with online payments," said Adam Tsao, founder of Airside and general manager of the new Airside group at Onfido, in the statement.