Baselayer Raises $35M to Bring Identity Checks to AI Agents

Baselayer, an AI-powered startup focused on business verification and fraud-risk assessment for financial institutions, raised $35 million in Series A funding. M13 led the round, with participation from Picus Capital, Torch Capital, Afore Capital and Matt Thompson of Socure. The financing brings Baselayer’s total funding to about $40 million since its 2023 inception, according to co-founder and CEO Jonathan Awad; the company declined to disclose its valuation.

Baselayer combines business identity, credit and fraud data to help banks, fintech companies and other financial-services providers evaluate prospective customers. Its platform has focused on Know Your Business identity verification, fraud detection and risk management, and is used by more than 2,000 financial institutions, according to Awad. The company also works with Fortune 500 companies, has about 50 employees across San Francisco and New York, and claims it has helped customers prevent more than $1 billion in fraud losses.

Baselayer is using the new capital to address whether an AI agent is authorized to act on behalf of a specific person or business. The company says agents can be created for a single task and disappear quickly, leaving little history for banks, merchants or risk providers to evaluate. That matters because legitimate automated activity can look similar to bots attempting to scrape data or commit fraud.

Alongside the funding, Baselayer announced its Agentic Identity Suite, which extends its identity network from businesses to the AI agents transacting for them. The company is developing what it calls “Know Your Agent,” or KYA, to determine who deployed an agent, who it represents and whether it has permission to perform a task. Baselayer’s approach centers on credentials that authorized agents can present to merchants, financial institutions or online platforms, which can then decide whether to allow a transaction or interaction.

Baselayer is working with agent developers, payment processors, merchants and fraud-detection providers to issue and recognize its credential, including FIS, Prove and Socure, among others. M13 managing partner Karl Alomar said AI agents are becoming economic actors, while identity infrastructure was not designed for software that can open accounts, make purchases, move money or transact on someone else’s behalf. No dominant standard exists yet, and Baselayer must persuade developers, merchants, financial institutions and payment companies to recognize its credential.