D-ID Gets $4 Million Seed Money To Fool Facial Recognition Technology

The startup company D-ID which got it footing from Y Combinator S17,  recently announced it successfully raised $4 million in a Seed Round led by Pitango Venture Capital with participation from Y Combinator, Foundation Capital, Fenox Venture Capital, Maverick Ventures, and to angel investors.

The technology, D-ID (which stands for de-identification), produces images which are unrecognizable to facial recognition algorithms – while keeping them indistinguishable from the originals to the human eye. With the advent of facial recognition technologies, D-ID is designed to make it difficult for AI to overcome.

D-ID, was founded in 2017 by CEO Gil Perry, COO Sella Blondheim and CTO Eliran Kuta. Perry and Blondheim both served in the Israeli Special Forces, and Kuta served for ten years as a captain in 8200, an Israeli Intelligence Corps unit. Their concerns about facial recognition technologies began during their service time when they were instructed not to share photos on social media because of the sensitive positions they held.

Biometric technology has always come with a conversation about privacy and safety, and D-ID’s concerns stem from looking at ways to protect pictures from unauthorized facial recognition technologies. The practical applications would make it simpler for organizations like the military of government to protect sensitive information and identities when it comes to the locations of certain persons, and the company’s website is targeted towards companies that specifically,  “need to meet regulatory requirements, governments that use sensitive biometric databases, and security agencies that need to adapt to the new reality of loss of anonymity.” D-ID offers a commercial advantage to companies looking to tighten up security and provide a branding strategy of security. Applications for individuals remains to be seen.

D-ID’s technology is positioned within a myriad of privacy and security measures for biometric technologies including liveness detection, 3D facial recognition, and dynamic two-factor authentication.

January 23, 2018 – Susan Stover