Sage Startups Business of the Year 2016

Start-up name: Onfido
Founders: Eamon Jubbawy, Husayn Kassai and Ruhul Amin
Started in: 2012
Based in:  London
Business description: Intelligent background checking platform

Boasting 1,000 business customers worldwide and a founding team of Oxford University graduates all aged under 30, Onfido is a true British start-up success story. And it was the stand-out business to take the overall title of Sage Startups Business of the Year at the Startups Awards 2016.

The Young Gun-founded company follows in the footsteps of last year’s overall winner Appear Here, and previous winners Beer52, Naked Wines, The Cambridge Satchel Company and BeatThatQuote.com.

Onfido, which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to update the laborious, expensive and often inaccurate manual processes of background checking, has gone from strength to strength in the last three years. It has scaled so quickly that it now employs 145 members of staff across its London and San Francisco offices.

Its innovative solution, which can run database searches on everything from criminal history to education and anti money laundering checks, is solving a problem that plagues businesses the world over and has been adopted by some major names including Deliveroo and Hello Fresh.

Now backed by $30m in funding after closing a $25m Series B round in April of this year, Onfido is set to build on its already impressive growth and bring identity verification “out of the dark ages” for companies of all sizes.

Watch this space!