The internet's new ID check
Short summary
New global regulations are forcing online platforms to verify user age, but existing solutions are clunky, privacy-invasive, and costly to build in-house. Verifai offers a developer-focused API that runs on-device selfie estimates and document checks, with pay-as-you-go, tiered subscriptions, and enterprise plans to simplify compliance and lower legal risk.
- New age-verification laws (France's minor bans, UK's Online Safety Act) are pushing platforms toward compliance solutions rather than risky in-house builds
- Verifai's developer-first API lets teams drop in selfie, document, or on-device age checks with pay-as-you-go and tiered pricing
- Running FairFace via TensorFlow.js client-side means only a pass/fail flag hits servers, avoiding biometric data storage
- Deep integration into onboarding/trust-and-safety flows creates high switching costs, locking customers in against rivals like Yoti or Persona
Full summary
A global wave of age-verification laws is about to hit every online service that lets users under 18 sign up. France’s Emmanuel Macron is leading the charge in Europe with coordinated bans for minors, and the UK’s Online Safety Act is forcing tech executives to answer for child safety. Right now, platforms rely on clumsy checks that tank sign-up rates and hoard sensitive data, leaving them open to privacy lawsuits. Building an in-house system that works across multiple jurisdictions means diverting engineering time from your core product.
Verifai tackles that gap with a developer-first API for age checks. You drop in a few lines of code and choose from selfie analysis, document scans or client-side age estimates. The startup will charge per verification for small teams, offer tiered monthly plans for growing apps, and lock down enterprise deals with service-level guarantees. They’ll fuel growth with two free tools: a “Regulatory Risk Grader” that pinpoints which laws apply to your app, plus an open-source JavaScript library that does basic, in-browser age estimation to build trust.
Their biggest edge? High switching costs. Once you wire Verifai into onboarding and trust-and-safety workflows, moving to a rival like Yoti or Persona becomes a massive headache. On the tech side, you could assemble an MVP with FastAPI and PostgreSQL, then run a pre-trained FairFace age model in TensorFlow.js entirely in the browser. That way, only a simple pass/fail flag ever hits your servers—no biometric uploads needed.