Prelude banked €17.2M ($20M) Series A funding to expand its cybersecurity platform for user onboarding. The round was led by 20VC, with participation from Singular, Seedcamp, Deel, FDJ Ventures, and several individual angels including Steffen Tjerrild.
The Paris-based startup provides an infrastructure layer that simplifies user verification while preventing "pump fraud" and inflated SMS costs. By combining telecom data, device signals, and machine learning, the platform allows companies to verify identities more reliably than traditional one-time passwords or CAPTCHAs. The company claims its clients, which include BeReal and Voodoo, save an average of 40% on verification costs.
Co-founders Matias Berny and Quentin Le Bras launched the company in 2023 after experiencing verification challenges first-hand while at Zenly. Along with the funding, the startup is launching two new products: Auth API for continuous trust checks across a user's lifecycle and Intel API for real-time carrier intelligence and number reputation.
As digital identity fraud becomes more sophisticated, European startups are increasingly moving away from point solutions in favour of integrated infrastructure that handles the entire trust stack.
Originally reported by EU-Startups Daily.