Online notarization leader Notarize today launched Proof, both a new company brand and a product for complete digital identity verification. Proof delivers valid, secure, enforceable evidence for faster and safer digital transactions. Since its founding in 2015, Notarize has processed millions of transactions ranging from real estate e-closings and vehicle bills of sales, to affidavits of identity and powers of attorneys. The company is now establishing Proof to extend its services beyond notarization and offer a much-sought-after “instant trust,” in the form of a difficult-to-forge record that verifies and locks a consumer’s identity with each transaction.
Every day critical commerce requires your signature. Homes are sold, cars are bought, money is borrowed, and authority is transferred with an agreement. While electronic signatures have created a new convenience, they have introduced a new set of challenges with digital forgery. FINRA has issued a regulatory notice to remind financial institutions of their obligation to prevent forgery even with use of digital signatures. In 2022, according to FTC data, there were over 1.1 million reports of identity theft, with imposter scams the most commonly reported fraud. These scams cost victims $8.8 billion, an increase of more than 30% over the previous year.
Proof is an enterprise-grade platform built to provide a new level of assurance to the world’s largest banks and real estate customers already transacting with Notarize. It’s a single platform to secure any type of digital agreement whether it requires a basic signature or a notarization. It maintains all the core components of an online notarization: signer details, video interaction with a notary, tamper-proof signatures, comprehensive audit trail, and a record of the credential and biometric used for the transaction. With Proof, the same core technology will be used to secure all signatures and customer interactions, not just a notarization.
“Every business regardless of size has had to move online to fully service their customers. Although they’ve been able to successfully complete transactions, the infrastructure to ensure those transactions are bulletproof just isn’t there,” said Pat Kinsel, founder and CEO of Notarize. “We excel in building transaction infrastructure and raising the bar with new standards. Since our inception, we’ve fiercely advocated for remote online notarization legislation, helped pass state regulations in 43 states to adopt online notarization, and set the standard for legally signing documents online from anywhere. But identity infrastructure is still lacking and trust online is broken: e-signatures need more rigor to better prove every signer is who they say they are. With the introduction of Proof, we are delivering that instant trust with a technology that indisputably locks a signer’s identity with a particular transaction, shutting down digital fraud before it happens.”
Today, Proof is introducing a single platform that combines capabilities that produce auditable identification with cryptographic evidence:
- Smart Platform: A platform that understands state/federal laws, regulatory requirements and industry standards to ensure any type of agreement can be signed legally and is accepted.
- NIST IAL2 Verification: Identity verification that will be certified for NIST IAL2 security. An auditable identification process that verifies ID documents alongside a biometric which can be escalated for a human to review when trust is at risk.
- Enhanced Signer Identification: Proof is the only signature platform with Enhanced Signer Identification. It provides evidence about the identity, not just the transaction. It includes enriched data about the identification history, location, IP address and device fingerprint. Coming soon, it will also include data found in public records or carrier networks and applies a concept of a risk score.
- Notarize Network: with thousands of active members, the Notarize Network is the largest network of online notaries. Available 24/7 with less than one second wait time, notaries can perform an online notarization on demand, or they can now act as a trusted agent to verify an identity. The network of trusted notaries will provide that human review when a NIST IAL2 process requires it.
- Tamper-proof signatures: Agreements that are cryptographically signed so that signatures are self-verifying and cannot be altered. Later this year Proof will be issuing digital certificates for all notaries that are AATL-compliant.
“At First American our customers trust us to facilitate and protect what is often the largest transaction of their lives, buying and selling their home. That’s why we’re continually looking for ways to make the process of buying and selling real estate simple, transparent and secure,” said Paul Hurst, Chief Innovation Officer at First American. “With Proof, First American gains enhanced identity validation for transaction participants, providing a new standard for trust and certainty in the signed documents we rely on to close real estate transactions.”
Proof has completed many of the world’s first digital commerce transactions, including the first online real estate closing, online mortgage closing, online auto sale, and online will. To date, the total value of real estate transactions secured tops $185B. The platform saves an average of 14 days per transaction and reduces the total cost to serve a notarization by 58% for more than 2,200 companies across the financial services, real estate, automotive, health, and consumer industries, including: First American, iPostal, Transamerica, Guaranteed Rate, Lennar, Anywhere, USAA, TIAA, Vroom and Zillow.
With a relentless focus on modernizing notarization for America and making RON a reality, Proof has experienced tremendous growth over the past eight years. The pandemic dramatically accelerated its momentum as the world was forced to conduct all business transactions online. Notarize scaled its business by 600% in 2021 and raised a $130M Series D funding round in 2021, bringing its valuation to more than $760 million. The company is backed by investors including Canapi Ventures, Camber Creek, Polaris Ventures, Anywhere, Alphabet’s independent growth fund CapitalG, Citi Ventures, Lennar, Wells Fargo, True Bridge Capital Partners, and the National Association of Realtors. Notarize used capital from its recent investment to meet enterprise security requirements and build Proof to address customers’ demands for greater security in all of their critical transactions.
“No one was thinking about digital notarization in 2015, but Pat was,” said Jake Fingert of Camber Creek, an early investor in Notarize. “Today, people think about digital footprints and artificial intelligence, but there is a major gap in proving identities and having an absolute source of truth post-transaction. The team has the experience, expertise and product to fill that gap, setting a new standard for modern identity verification with Proof.”
About Proof
Proof is the trusted identity verification platform for the most important business transactions: yours. Proof locks user identity with transaction data in a secure, enforceable format, providing an indisputable record of each transaction. Its dynamic verification technology is the most reliable source on the market, blocking digital fraud before it starts. The Notarize Network steps up where other vendors fail, providing experienced human intervention when automated processes fall short, providing you and your business a complete process for all of your customers. For more information, visit: www.proof.com
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