IDnow Review
6.6/10A Munich firm founded in 2014 whose BaFin-heritage VideoIdent and AutoIdent stack verifies documents from 193 countries for regulated European onboarding. IDnow Trust Services AB holds EU Qualified Trust Service Provider status, IDCheck.io carries UK DIATF accreditation at medium and high confidence, and the Financial Risk Check runs six affordability indicators for the UKGC regime, with Corsair Capital's majority buy-up announced March 2025 and completion pending.
Our read
- A dedicated Financial Risk Check for UK affordability, running six data indicators (geo, application and payday, VRS vulnerability, mortality, property, derogatory score) mapped to the UKGC assessment regime.
- EU regulated-market credentials: BaFin-heritage VideoIdent since 2014, UK DIATF accreditation at medium and high confidence for IDCheck.io, and ETSI conformance.
- Gaming references: Kindred, verifying identity, address, and banking in real time, plus Lottoland (2019) running age and child-protection checks.
- Onboarding depth from one vendor: AutoIdent automated verification and agent-assisted VideoIdent, real-time IBAN and bank verification, AML screening, and qualified e-signing.
- Ownership is in transition: Corsair Capital's majority buy-up (96% for $295M with a 20% founder earnout) was announced March 6, 2025, and completion remains pending.
- Agent-assisted VideoIdent puts a person on a live video call, so it fits the markets and risk bands that require one.
- No US state gaming registration, and pricing is enterprise and on request.
European operators, especially in Germany, the UK, and Malta, that need regulated onboarding, age and child-protection checks, real-time IBAN verification, e-signing, and the UK Financial Risk Check.
A US-only book that needs KYC anchored in a state gaming register, buyers who want published per-check pricing, and operators who need a settled ownership picture before signing multi-year.
Markets & licensing
IDnow's regulatory footprint is European. VideoIdent was built for BaFin-compliant remote onboarding in 2014, and BaFin cleared the security and permissibility of that regulated procedure in May 2022 after a comprehensive review. Alongside the BaFin heritage sits UK DIATF accreditation at medium and high confidence for the IDCheck.io product. ISO 27001 and SOC 2 are carried as well.
IDnow is a European vendor, and its gaming clients are UK and EU facing.
The Financial Risk Check runs six data indicators mapped to the UKGC assessment regime, whose trigger dropped to £150 a month in February 2025. The accredited product is IDCheck.io, at medium and high confidence with a two-year validity.
- EU eIDAS Qualified Trust Service ProviderEuropean Union
- IDnow Trust Services AB certified as a QTSP in 2024, a supervised eIDAS designation underpinning qualified e-signing and reusable identity · Certified 2024
- UK DIATF accreditation (IDCheck.io)United Kingdom
- Accredited at medium and high confidence for the AI-based IDCheck.io product, two-year validity
- Germany BaFin regulated onboardingGermany
- VideoIdent built for BaFin-compliant remote onboarding since 2014, with BaFin clearing the regulated procedure in May 2022
- EU ETSI identity-proofing conformanceEuropean Union
- Conformance with the EU identity-proofing standard for the verification stack · October 2022
Licensing tier: The eIDAS QTSP status and the UK DIATF accreditation are supervised designations.
IDnow's regulated-onboarding footprint runs across financial services, telecoms, travel, and gaming in Europe, with offices in Munich, Berlin, Düsseldorf, London, and Rennes.
Platform & capabilities
Everything the product does out of the box. If a feature isn't listed, the vendor either doesn't offer it or doesn't say.
Integrations & engineering
One contract and one API instead of a separate deal per studio, feed, or PSP. Here's what connects, how fast, and on what stack.
Everything runs through a REST API plus mobile and web SDKs across two verification modes. AutoIdent handles automated document, biometric, and liveness verification in the browser or on a smartphone camera, while VideoIdent adds an agent-assisted video call for cases that need a human in the loop, both feeding the same AML, age, address, and IBAN checks. The Financial Risk Check adds the six-indicator UK affordability data set on top for UKGC-regime operators, and the QTSP and eID line supports qualified e-signing and reusable identity. The gaming deployment is Kindred, which verifies identity, address, and banking details in real time from this stack.
Integration is developer-led with an API plus SDK and dev docs, and there is no public self-serve trial, so the calendar comes out of the sales and compliance-review process.
Products & tools
One regulated-onboarding stack spans AutoIdent automated verification and agent-assisted VideoIdent, biometric and liveness checks, age and address verification, real-time IBAN and bank verification, AML screening, and qualified e-signing, with a productized UK affordability check that runs six financial-risk data indicators.
AutoIdent VideoIdent
Two delivery modes from one vendor: AutoIdent runs AI-driven automated identity verification in the browser or on a smartphone camera, and VideoIdent puts an agent on a live video call, the BaFin-heritage method IDnow built its business on in 2014.
- AutoIdent captures a document and a biometric selfie, then confirms a live person with a short liveness video, no trained personnel required
- VideoIdent runs an agent-assisted video call, the procedure BaFin cleared for regulated financial onboarding in May 2022
- ID documents from 193 countries on the AutoIdent path
- FaceMatch and liveness are core to AutoIdent, checking a real face against the document photo
- Runs in-browser or via smartphone camera through an API plus SDK
Financial Risk Check
A productized UK affordability offering built for the UKGC Financial Risk Assessment regime, running six data indicators to flag at-risk players.
- Geo-affordability from regional and area-based financial-risk patterns
- Application data drawn from about 2.5 million vulnerable-consumer and payday-loan inquiry records
- Vulnerability data via the Vulnerability Registration Service to flag at-risk players
- Mortality data across about 12 million deceased UK individuals to block identity theft
- Property data (council tax band, housing type, values) plus a dynamic derogatory financial score for arrears likelihood
Onboarding Checks
The rest of the onboarding stack around the two verification modes: sanctions and PEP screening, real-time age verification for child protection, and IBAN and bank-account verification, all built against UKGC, MGA, and Germany's GlüStV.
- AML screening against sanctions, PEP, and watchlist sources
- Age verification from document date of birth in real time (the Lottoland child-protection use case)
- IBAN and bank verification in real time (Kindred verifies identity, address, and banking details together)
- Address verification alongside identity in the same flow
- Aligned to UKGC, MGA, GlüStV, eIDAS, and the forthcoming AMLR (2027)
eSign eID
A qualified, advanced, and simple e-signing line run under EU Qualified Trust Service Provider status.
- Qualified, advanced, and simple electronic signatures (QES, AES, SES)
- IDnow Trust Services AB certified as an EU QTSP in 2024, an eIDAS-grade supervised status
- Multiple European eID schemes integrated for reusable and qualified identity
- Verify-and-sign flows kept with one vendor for regulated onboarding
The history
Longevity in this industry usually comes with a change of owner somewhere in it.
IDnow was founded in 2014 in Munich, and co-founder Armin Berghaus drove the BaFin-approval work that made VideoIdent a compliant remote-onboarding method, the founding product and the origin of the company's regulated-market identity. Corsair Capital first took a minority stake of about 43% in October 2019, and in 2021 IDnow made two strategic acquisitions, identity Trust Management in Germany and ARIADNEXT in France, the latter bringing the IDCheck.io product. On March 6, 2025, Corsair announced a majority investment, buying up to 96% of shares from existing shareholders in an all-cash $295M deal (about €273M) with a potential 20% founder earnout, and completion is still pending. The holding entity is IDnow Holding GmbH. The group runs 500-plus staff across offices in Munich, Berlin, Düsseldorf, London, and Rennes, serves about 900 customers, was EBITDA-profitable on 2023 revenue near €79M, and marked its 10-year anniversary in 2024, with gaming one regulated vertical alongside financial services, telecoms, and travel.
Brands & clients on the platform
Corporate
- identity Trust Management (2021)
- ARIADNEXT (2021)
Leadership
Milestones
- 2014
IDnow is founded in Munich, and co-founder Armin Berghaus drives the BaFin-approval work that makes VideoIdent a compliant remote-onboarding method.
- 2019
Corsair Capital takes a minority stake of about 43% in October, the starting position for the later majority buy-up, and Lottoland deploys AutoIdent for real-time age verification.
- 2021
Two strategic acquisitions land: identity Trust Management in Germany and ARIADNEXT in France, the latter bringing the IDCheck.io product.
- 2022
BaFin confirms the security and permissibility of the regulated VideoIdent procedure in May after a comprehensive review, and ETSI EU identity-proofing conformance follows in October.
- 2024
IDnow Trust Services AB is certified as an EU Qualified Trust Service Provider, and the company marks its 10-year anniversary.
- 2025
Corsair announces a majority investment on March 6, buying up to 96% of shares for $295M all-cash with a 20% founder earnout, and an expanded executive team is announced in July (CEO Andreas Bodczek, CFO Andreas Maueröder, and others).
Where they're pushing next
- UK affordability and Financial Risk Check depth as the UKGC assessment regime tightens (trigger reduced to £150 a month from Feb 2025)
- eIDAS and EU eID coverage through the QTSP and eID line
Longevity and ownership
Switching vendors is expensive, which makes the company's staying power part of the purchase. What the contract says about your data decides how expensive an exit gets.
IDnow vs alternatives
Most buyers in this market shortlist three or four vendors long before they take a single sales call.
Pricing & terms
IDnow quotes pricing per project. Here's how the model and the terms are structured.
Turnkey
IDnow prices as an enterprise identity vendor, on request.
Path to launch
- 1Contact IDnow sales
- 2Scope the verification mode by market and risk: AutoIdent automated verification, agent-assisted VideoIdent, or both, plus AML, age, address, and IBAN checks
- 3For a UK book, scope the Financial Risk Check
- 4Clear the compliance and security review, and confirm certifications for your jurisdiction
- 5Build against the API plus SDK with developer docs
- 6Go live market by market, wiring e-signing and any eID schemes your regulated flow requires
Support & account management
You can't demo service before you sign, so what a vendor puts in writing is the only floor you can hold it to.