San Francisco‑based Baselayer, which provides AI‑driven identity, credit and fraud data to financial institutions, announced a $35 million Series A financing. The round was led by venture firm M13, with participation from Picus Capital, Torch Capital, Afore Capital and Matt Thompson of Socure. The new capital brings Baselayer’s total funding to roughly $40 million since its inception in February 2023; the company did not disclose its valuation.
Co‑founders Jonathan Awad and Timothy Hyde said the financing will fund the rollout of an "Agentic Identity Suite" that extends the firm’s existing Know‑Your‑Business (KYB) platform to cover AI agents. The new "Know Your Agent" (KYA) service is designed to issue verifiable credentials to autonomous software, enabling banks, merchants and payment processors to confirm that an agent is authorized to act on behalf of a specific person or business.
Baselayer’s technology currently serves more than 2,000 financial institutions—about 20 % of U.S. banks—and is also used by Fortune 500 companies. The startup claims its platform has helped customers prevent over $1 billion in fraud losses. While revenue figures were not disclosed, Awad noted the company achieved eight‑figure revenue in under two years of operation.
The firm processes tens of millions of applications annually and leverages its network to recognize repeat activity across institutions, improving risk scoring. For AI agents, which can be instantiated for a single task and then disappear, Baselayer aims to provide a persistent credential that can be presented during transactions. Partners in developing the credentialing system include FIS, Prove and Socure.
M13 managing partner Karl Alomar said the investment reflects a shift from traditional KYB solutions to a broader identity infrastructure needed for the emerging "agentic economy." He noted that establishing relationships with financial institutions typically takes 12‑18 months, while large merchant partnerships can require up to 24 months, though Baselayer’s existing reseller network may accelerate adoption.
Beyond payments, the company sees potential applications for its credentialing technology in cryptocurrency transactions and smart contracts. Awad cautioned that without a reliable way to verify AI agents, legitimate software could be blocked or forced to resort to illicit workarounds, while fraudsters could exploit the speed and scale of autonomous agents.
Baselayer employs roughly 50 staff across its San Francisco and New York offices and plans to use the Series A proceeds to expand its product suite, grow its reseller ecosystem, and pursue standard‑setting efforts for AI‑agent identity verification.
