Baselayer Raises $35M to Verify AI Agent Identities
Baselayer, which helps financial institutions verify businesses and assess fraud risk, has raised $35 million in a Series A led by M13. The company will use the funds to extend its identity technology to AI agents, launching an Agentic Identity Suite. More than 2,000 financial institutions use its platform, which has helped prevent over $1 billion in fraud losses.
Baselayer's Series A brings its total funding to roughly $40 million since its founding in February 2023 by Jonathan Awad and Timothy Hyde. The startup employs about 50 people across San Francisco and New York, and reports eight-figure revenue achieved in under two years. Its platform processes tens of millions of applications, with many businesses appearing multiple times annually across its network.
The company's new Agentic Identity Suite addresses the challenge of verifying AI agents that may exist for a single task before disappearing. Baselayer's "Know Your Agent" system aims to determine who deployed an agent, whom it represents, and whether that agent is authorized to act. The company sells directly and through reseller partners who white-label its technology.
As AI agents become common for routine transactions, financial institutions face growing difficulty distinguishing legitimate automated activity from fraud. Baselayer's expansion could help standardize agent verification across the banking sector, potentially reducing fraud losses while enabling smoother adoption of AI-driven commerce. However, centralized identity networks also raise questions about data concentration and privacy, as more transactional information flows through a single risk-assessment provider.