Persona and Yardstik Launch Integrated ID Verification, Background Screening Solution

Persona and Yardstik have partnered to deliver a jointly integrated identity verification and background screening solution that enables organizations to verify workers’ identities.

This solution brings together Persona’s verified identity platform and Yardstik’s full suite of background screening products, the companies said in a Tuesday (June 17) press release.

Their integrated solution is designed to help organizations eliminate challenges they often face around fraud and hiring, such as background checks run on unverified or fraudulent individuals and the fragmented experiences encountered when using multiple tools, according to the release.

With this integration, organizations can streamline procurement and integration, gain a single source of truth for risk and hiring decisions, and provide end-users with a seamless, branded onboarding experience, per the release.

The solution enables organizations to “move fast to secure the best talent while ensuring they’re not onboarding bad actors,” Persona CEO and Co-founder Rick Song said in the release.

“Traditional approaches force them to choose between speed and security,” Song said. “The collaboration with Yardstik eliminates that trade-off by creating the first truly unified solution that lets platforms verify identity and assess risk simultaneously, without compromising the user experience.”

Yardstik CEO Andrew Johnson said the partnership was a natural fit because the companies both focus on using technology to solve customers’ problems.

“Not only is it a clear win for our mutual customers who will benefit from one centralized risk program, but it’s a win for the whole market,” Johnson said.

While digital identity has always been a thorny challenge, that difficulty has increased with the growing deployment of bots, Song told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster in an interview posted Friday (June 13).

“What AI has done is accelerate a problem that’s already existed on the internet for a long time,” Song said. “How do I prevent a bad actor from having access again and again?”

Identity has emerged as one of the most important variables in the battle to manage AI traffic, reduce fraud and personalize services, Song said.

When Persona announced in April that it raised $200 million in a Series D funding round, the company said it is building a verified identity layer that will determine not only identity but also intent, helping businesses operate in a world that includes AI agents.

Persona has already added features like enhanced age assurance solutions, expanded international know your business (KYB) capabilities and an extension into workforce identity security over the past year.