At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, several of our friends and family members had their identities stolen. When we asked how they went about recovering their accounts, we found most companies did not have a safe or easy way to verify their identity and keep accounts protected. Customer service reps with good intentions would ask frustrating questions about our account or credit history, but they would be asking personal questions about information that was likely already made public by data leaks from other companies. Most often, our friends had to go in-person (wearing a mask) and show their driver's license to verify themselves. It was at this moment we realized that while our physical and digital lives have merged, our identities have not. 
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Social Security Numbers, phone numbers, passports, and physical IDs – none of these alone can confirm our identities on the modern web. They leave us susceptible to phishing, allow unwanted contact from strangers, and cannot be protected or updated in real time if our identities have been compromised. Beyond identity, fundamental account security is also under attack. Our accounts are secured in the best case, with Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), but trusting a device with MFA is not the same as knowing its owner. 

Authenticator apps are difficult to set-up, and even more difficult to recover if a phone is replaced. In the worst case, accounts are protected with only a password which might be known due to a data leak from someone else, or using SMS - which unfortunately puts the burden on phone companies to be unusually excellent at verifying our identities so that a bad actor can’t take control of a phone number. 

If our identities can’t be verified online - and our accounts are using weak security that’s tied to passwords instead of real people - then our accounts can’t be protected. 

Despite many parts of our lives (including very important transactions) existing only or primarily online, digital security hasn’t advanced enough to protect us. Fraud and identity theft has serious costs for both consumers and the companies they use, making it hard to build trust in a digital world.

And that’s why Nametag was born - to be the next generation of online safety. We recognize the end of the passwords, codes, and questions as proof of identity, and we understand the importance of secure multi-factor authentication. People want an easy, convenient way to access their accounts, control their privacy, and be protected online. Companies want the confidence and intelligence that their customers are really who they claim to be, while protecting their valuable Personal Identifiable Information (PII).

The world we live in today is online, over the phone, and in-person. So, we set out to build a product that can secure your account and verify it’s really you - everywhere.

We believe every website and app should use Sign in with ID for a more secure way to access online accounts. 
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We believe privacy is a human right. Your information deserves to be privacy protected.
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We believe you (the user) own your own data - and you should be in total control of how much you share, who you share it with, and when you share it. 
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We believe in continuous identity. Many factors should contribute to assessing that someone’s information is accurate at that exact moment. 
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We believe ID should be portable – not just physically, but across the web. You should be able to quickly and easily reshare your information across all sites you visit.

Our team is made up of cyber security professionals, former Co-founders/CTOs from the security and identity domains, and multiple world-class computer science PhDs who are experts on applied cryptography, machine vision, and artificial intelligence. Nametag is being built from state-of-the-art industry standards by engineers who are masters of their craft.

We’re fortunate to be financially backed by some of the biggest names in the technology industry.

Glasswing Ventures funds generation-defining businesses harnessing the power of AI and frontier technologies to transform markets and revolutionize industries.

Village Global is focused on the strength of trusted networks and funded by some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs.

J2 invests in companies looking to bring best-in-class technology to help defend United States security and prosperity.

Nametag’s network of advisors are current and former CEOs, CTOs, founders, and industry leaders who are committed to our mission to bring authenticity to the internet and enable people to build more trusted relationships.

Get Involved
To get in touch with our team, contact us here, or follow us on LinkedIn.