How Finerva is supporting OneID on its mission to become the UK’s ubiquitous digital identity service

OneID is the UK’s fastest, cheapest, and safest digital identity service. It is the only service with access to bank-verified data meaning every transaction is protected by the most advanced counter-fraud technologies. The concept of using your bank to verify your identity online is a new one in the UK, but not in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, The Netherlands and Belgium where it has been phenomenally successful and used daily by the vast majority of citizens. 

Sweden’s BankID for example is used by 98% of adults at least twice a day, resulting in 6.2 billion transactions a year. In Norway, fraudulent payment transactions have reduced from 1% of all transactions to 0.00042%. 

OneID was founded in 2020 to become the BankID of the UK. Today OneID can verify 50 million UK citizens with its service. It is a document-less digital ID service, meaning it is a faster, cheaper and more secure way of identifying yourself online than the analogue alternatives which all revolve around registering with an app, scanning your passport and utility bill and taking selfie photos. 

As a result, OneID has signed a landmark deal with The NatWest Group (arguably the most innovative, forward-thinking of the UK’s Big 4 banks), AdobeSign, DocuSign and other platforms, with more expected to follow in short order.

Interestingly, OneID has taken a novel approach to funding the business with its Citizen Investor model. The model prioritises investment from Angel investors over institutions and to date, almost 200 Angel Investors have backed OneID, and in August it was announced that ACF Investors (formerly Angel Co-Fund) who are a partner of the British Business Bank, invested £1m meaning that OneID’s £5m Seed round was oversubscribed, closing at £6.3m.

How Finerva supported OnedID

Finerva first met founders, Rob Kotlarz and Nick Warden in 2000. We advised on OneID’s EMI Share Option Scheme and EIS matters, and have maintained a close relationship since. In 2023, Finerva was approached to support OneID with fractional CFO and finance manager support as well. 

Paula Sussex CBE, CEO of OneID said: ”Working with Finerva for the last few years has rewarded us with an invaluable finance, accounting and tax partner. Adam and Fiona are always responsive and proactive professionals who have vast experience in the scale-up world and this is what a company like OneID needs. It assures us that their support will continue to put our mind at peace regarding the financial matters and let us focus on our growth and scaling.”

Adam Brodie, Co-Founder of Finerva said: “Finerva’s vision is to see the UK home to the fastest growing companies in the world. That means working with and supporting the scaling of visionary companies like OneID, where they have the potential and ambition to scale to multi-billion pound businesses”. 

“OneID has always fascinated us – the Citizen Investment model with 200 Angel investors and no VCs; the calibre of the Board and management team who are leading FinTech investors and operators; and the tried and tested concept of bank-verified ID in 5 other European countries, in tackling a online problem. It’s been a good match and our team loves working with them.” 

“Finerva has introduced OneID to the ICAEW (Finerva’s regulator) to discuss OneID’s offering to the accountancy industry for KYC and digital identity verification. Separately, we looking to embed OneID into Finerva’s processes with our clients: 1) Log-in without username and password; 2) Speed up the KYC process. More news to follow!”

Adam has led the engagement, supported by David Hornby (modelling), Emma Truran (finance manager), Fiona Cross (Tax) and Matt Andrews (EIS and EMI). We’ve supported OneID’s board and management team on a range of matters including:

• Strategic financial advice and sounding board.
• Preparation of financial information for board packs. 
• Investor relations.
• Supporting the CEO and Chairman with fundraising activities with new potential investors and funders. 
• Financial modelling.
• Financial operations – improving accounts payable and expenses systems and processes.
• Preparation and review of management accounts. 
• Budgeting.
• Liaising with other external accountants and lawyers.

Led by Fiona Cross (Finerva’s Tax Partner) and supported by Matt Andrews, Finerva advised on a range of EIS investment and EMI share option scheme matters. In particular, Fiona and Matt have advised OneID on Knowledge Intensive Company EIS status, resulting in OneID being able to raise greater amounts than under the standard EIS.