Fourthline and Veridas Complete Merger to Create a European Leader in Bank-Grade Digital Identity

Fourthline and Veridas today announce the completion of their merger, first announced on 16 July 2026. The transaction closed on 3 November 2026 following the satisfaction of all closing conditions.

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The funding will be used to accelerate product innovation, pursue strategic M&A, refinance debt, and support a shareholding reorganization that includes partial liquidity for Veridas shareholders. Both businesses will be EBITDA-positive at close. The combination is expected to deliver €20m in annual run-rate synergies. With limited customer overlap and complementary markets, most of that growth will come from offering each company's proprietary technology underpinning the full scope of IDV products to the other's customers.

Leadership and governance

Fourthline CEO, Paul Stoddart, will lead the combined entity as Chief Executive Officer. Finch Capital Managing Partner, Radboud Vlaar will chair the Supervisory Board. Eduardo Azanza, Veridas CEO, will become President of the combined company. Esteban Morrás, until now president of Veridas, Finch Capital’s Philip van Engers, and Alfonso Diaz, Investment Director at Seaya Andromeda, will join the Fourthline Group Holding B.V. Supervisory Board. Headquarters of the combined company will be in Amsterdam, with offices in Stockholm, Pamplona, Barcelona, Mexico, São Paulo & Boston.

What customers gain

Fourthline and Veridas have joined forces to create a global bank-grade identity platform: sovereign AI, modular compliance, and proprietary anti-fraud and biometric technology across Europe, Latin America, and the US. One trusted partner for end-to-end KYC, AML, and Identity compliance. From today, customers of either company can work with one provider across Europe, Latin America, Mexico and the US. Both platforms continue to run with full continuity of service, existing contracts, integrations, and local support. Integration will follow in phases, and customers do not need to take any action.

Why the combination matters now

Regulated businesses face two pressures at once: fraud is increasingly AI-generated, including deepfake and synthetic-identity attacks, and the compliance perimeter is widening following the EU AMLR, MiCA, eIDAS 2.0 and national age-verification legislation, CNBV & CUB in Latin America and Mexico. Global spend on digital identity verification is expected to reach nearly $19 billion in 2026 and grow by 55% to more than $29 billion by 2030, according to Juniper Research.

The same research finds biometric verification is the fastest-growing modality and that “enterprise buyers are consolidating spend with providers that cover the full identity lifecycle across markets and regulations.”

The combined company addresses both, bringing together Fourthline's compliance and decisioning, built for regulated financial services providers in Northern and Central Europe, and Veridas's biometric, document and voice technology, deployed across Southern Europe, Latin America and the US. The stack is fully proprietary. Qualified Trust Services are delivered by Fourthline Trust Services, a QTSP. The result: regulated businesses can grow into new markets with confidence.

Quotes

Paul Stoddart, Fourthline CEO, “Closing marks the establishment of a true European Leader in identity and fraud prevention. Starting today, a business partner onboarding customers in Amsterdam, Madrid, London, Mexico City, São Paulo or Bogotá will be able to apply a single verification standard through a single provider. Our first job is to ensure continuity of service for existing customers; our second is to give them access to incremental value.”

Eduardo Azanza, President, “Our mission is clear: we tell the real from the fake, so our customers can build on trust. This merger gives us the talent, technology and reach to take that mission further than either company could alone. Together, we multiply our capacity to fight fraud, with regulatory compliance as our baseline and a firm commitment to the ethical use of AI. Born in Europe and already global, we now move as one team, combining complementary expertise with shared energy and ambition. Forward. Together.”

Radboud Vlaar, Finch Capital: “We felt this would be a strong cultural fit, as both companies are built on strong foundations of client-led product leadership, as illustrated by the Blue-chip client base. We believe this market is ripe for consolidation, which we feel Fourthline and Veridas are well positioned for, as demonstrated by the strong organic growth and major Tier-1 Bank RFP wins. We look forward to working closely with Paul and his team to execute the value creation plan and build out the leadership further.”

Alfonso Diaz, Seaya Andromeda: “We are delighted to invest in Fourthline and Veridas and support the next stage of their growth. Both companies have built outstanding businesses, with strong teams, proprietary technology and complementary capabilities across products and markets. We believe this combination has enormous potential to become a global leader in the digital identity sector, and we are excited to support its international expansion and continued growth.”

Advisers

Orange Clover and Act Legal Spain acted as lead legal advisers to Fourthline on Dutch and Spanish law respectively and coordinated the wider team of advisers on the transaction. Financial adviser to Veridas was TD Securities and legal advisers to Veridas were Pérez-Llorca and AKD. Legal Advisors to Finch Capital were Lexense.

About Fourthline:

Fourthline is Europe's leading identity verification provider powering compliance solutions through proprietary AI technology. Founded in Amsterdam in 2017, Fourthline’s strength is reflected in its client roster including Revolut, N26, Trade Republic, Qonto, Scalable Capital, Scalapay, Raisin, Rabobank and Bitpanda. Through a single API integration, Fourthline enables financial institutions to maintain consistent compliance standards while supporting ambitious global expansion. www.fourthline.com

About Veridas:

Veridas is a technology company founded in 2017 as a joint venture with BBVA. Since then, it has become a leading global player in the identity industry, serving over 350 clients across 25 countries in sectors including banking, insurance, telecommunications, and public administration across Europe, Latin America and the United States. Veridas’ mission is to provide Trusted Digital Identities to any business, through its proprietary, cutting-edge identity verification, biometric, and anti-fraud solutions.

Forward-looking statements

This release contains forward-looking statements, identified by words such as "expects," "will," "on track" and similar expressions. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties, including integration progress, competitive dynamics and regulatory developments, and actual results may differ materially. Fourthline undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required by applicable law.

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