In rebranding as The ID Co., James Varga’s identity-verification startup will be better poised to provide businesses and consumers with better fraud protection, faster onboarding, and easier, safer login and checkout capabilities. DirectID and miiCard will serve as The ID Co.’s two core business units, with miiCard Digital Passport “helping consumers own and manage their identities,” Varga explained, and DirectID B2B “more deeply embedding identity in business processes.”

“Our mission is to create a layer of trust online, a digital world where you can trust that people really are who they say they are,” he added. “Our new company name represents who we are, and better reflects our mission to help solve one of the greatest challenges of our time.”

Growth of The ID Co.’s DirectID B2B service in particular helped drive the rebranding decision. Currently deployed at leading banks, wealth management firms, and online lenders, the technology helps improve onboarding conversion rates, reduce fraud and improve underwriting accuracy by factoring in data sources such as Bank Verified Identities and financial transaction histories.

Launched in the fall of 2014, DirectID provides an “all-in-one solution” that is especially effective for the affordability testing in high-value, online transactions. The company’s consumer platform, miiCard (My Internet Identity Card) provides a “consumer-centric identity” for online and mobile users, including a digital passport being piloted with the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace and the state of North Carolina.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, The ID Co. demonstrated miiCard Identity as a Service at FinovateFall 2013. The company has raised more than $9 million in funding and was an inaugural member of  fintech accelerator, SixThirty. Vargas sat down with American Banker last summer to discuss the challenges of online identity verification and the role of banks as a “source of trust.”