Stripe alumni raise €30M Series A for Duna, backed by Stripe and Adyen execs

Stripe’s “Founder Factory” Legacy Continues: Duna Raises $30M to Build the “Digital Passport” for Businesses

In the ever-evolving landscape of fintech innovation, a new chapter is being written by a startup born from the fertile grounds of Stripe’s alumni network. Duna, a German-Dutch business identity verification platform, has just secured a €30 million Series A funding round, cementing its position as the best-funded European member of the so-called “Stripe mafia.” This latest investment, led by Alphabet’s growth fund CapitalG, underscores the enduring influence of Stripe’s “founder factory” model and the growing appetite for solutions that streamline business onboarding in the digital age.

The funding round, which also saw participation from existing investors Index Ventures, Puzzle Ventures, and Snowflake chairman Frank Slootman, brings Duna’s total funding to over €40 million. But this isn’t just another fintech funding story—it’s a testament to the power of networks, both human and digital, in shaping the future of financial technology.

From Stripe Alumni to Identity Verification Innovators

Duna was co-founded by Duco van Lanschot and David Schreiber, both alumni of Stripe’s European operations. Their journey from working at one of the world’s most influential fintech companies to launching their own venture is a familiar narrative in the tech world. Stripe has become renowned for spawning numerous successful startups, with its alumni going on to create dozens of companies across various sectors.

The founders’ Stripe pedigree is evident not just in their approach to solving problems but also in their investor lineup. The company’s angel investors include current Stripe COO Michael Coogan and former executives David Singleton (CTO) and Claire Hughes Johnson (COO). Even Stripe’s rival Adyen got involved, with CRCO Mariëtte Swart and CFO Ethan Tandowsky joining as angels.

This impressive roster of backers speaks volumes about the confidence in Duna’s vision and the strength of its team. It also highlights the tight-knit nature of the fintech community, where competition and collaboration often go hand in hand.

Solving the Business Onboarding Conundrum

At its core, Duna is tackling a pervasive problem in the fintech world: the cumbersome and often frustrating process of business identity verification and onboarding. For many fintech companies, especially those dealing with corporate clients, the traditional methods of KYC (Know Your Customer) and KYB (Know Your Business) checks can be a significant source of customer churn.

Duna’s solution aims to make this process more efficient and less painful for both businesses and the platforms they’re trying to access. By leveraging advanced technology and data aggregation, the startup helps fintech companies onboard business customers faster and with fewer hiccups along the way.

The company’s approach is particularly relevant in an era where speed and user experience are paramount. In a world where consumers expect instant gratification, lengthy and complex verification processes can be a major deterrent. Duna’s technology promises to reduce this friction, potentially unlocking new growth opportunities for its clients.

Building a Global Trust Infrastructure

While Duna’s current focus is on improving the efficiency of business onboarding, the company’s ambitions extend far beyond this initial use case. Van Lanschot envisions Duna as a foundational piece of what he calls a “global trust infrastructure.”

The ultimate goal? To create a system where businesses can have a “digital passport” that can be reused across multiple platforms and services. Imagine a world where a company verified by Duna for one service could seamlessly onboard with another service without having to go through the entire verification process again. This vision of reusable identity verification could revolutionize how businesses interact with financial services and other platforms that require trust and verification.

This concept resonates strongly with CapitalG’s investment thesis. Alex Nichols, the general partner who led CapitalG’s investment, emphasized the importance of network effects and scale advantages in his decision to back Duna. He sees the potential for Duna to create a network that becomes more valuable as more businesses and platforms join it.

The Competitive Landscape and Duna’s Unique Approach

Duna isn’t alone in the KYB space. Competitors like Jumio and Veriff have been working on similar problems for years. However, Duna’s approach sets it apart. Rather than trying to aggregate existing data sources, which van Lanschot argues are often incomplete or outdated, Duna is focused on generating its own high-quality data.

This strategy of building from the ground up, while potentially more resource-intensive in the short term, could pay off significantly in the long run. By controlling the data generation process, Duna can ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information it provides, which is crucial in the world of financial services and identity verification.

Accelerating Network Effects Through Strategic Targeting

One of the most intriguing aspects of Duna’s strategy is its approach to accelerating the development of network effects. Recognizing that building a truly global network will take time, the company is focusing on identifying “patches of networks” – small clusters of companies that already have overlapping relationships.

These clusters could include manufacturing companies with shared customers, investment firms with overlapping limited partners, or companies within the same small country. By targeting these tightly-knit groups, Duna can create immediate value even before achieving full network effects.

This strategy is particularly clever because it allows Duna to demonstrate tangible benefits to its clients early on, which can help drive adoption and growth. It’s a pragmatic approach to building what could become a transformative piece of infrastructure in the digital economy.

The Human Cost of Compliance and AI’s Potential

Van Lanschot’s observation about the scale of compliance efforts in even small countries like the Netherlands is striking. He notes that in the Netherlands alone, the four biggest banks employ 14,000 people in compliance, with half of them working on business-related issues. This statistic underscores the massive opportunity for automation and efficiency gains in this space.

Duna’s technology, particularly its use of AI for automation, has the potential to significantly reduce these costs while also improving accuracy and speed. While it may not fully replace human compliance officers in the near term, it can certainly augment their capabilities and free them up to focus on more complex, high-value tasks.

The Stripe Connection: From Onboarding to One-Click Business Transactions

The parallels between Duna’s vision and Stripe’s own journey are hard to miss. Just as Stripe revolutionized online payments by making them as simple as a few lines of code, Duna aims to do the same for business identity verification and onboarding.

If Duna succeeds in building its envisioned “digital passport” system, it could enable a world of one-click business onboarding. This would be akin to Amazon’s one-click checkout for consumers, but for the B2B world. The potential impact on business efficiency and the broader digital economy could be enormous.

Moreover, such a system could position Duna similarly to how Stripe has positioned itself in the payments ecosystem – as a critical piece of infrastructure that enables countless other businesses and services. The company that controls the rails of business identity verification could potentially capture significant value and influence in the evolving digital landscape.

Looking Ahead: Challenges and Opportunities

As Duna embarks on this ambitious journey, it faces both significant opportunities and challenges. The opportunity to build a new layer of digital infrastructure that could transform how businesses interact online is immense. The potential to reduce friction in business transactions and unlock new forms of economic activity is genuinely exciting.

However, the challenges are equally significant. Building trust in a system that handles sensitive business identity information will be crucial. Navigating the complex regulatory landscape across different jurisdictions will require careful attention and potentially significant resources. And of course, executing on the vision of a truly global network while competing with established players and potential new entrants will test the company’s mettle.

Nevertheless, with its strong team, impressive investor backing, and clear vision, Duna is well-positioned to tackle these challenges. As the digital economy continues to evolve and expand, the need for efficient, reliable business identity verification is only going to grow. Duna’s success could well determine how this critical piece of infrastructure develops in the coming years.

In the grand tradition of Stripe’s “founder factory,” Duna represents the next generation of fintech innovation – one that’s not just about moving money more efficiently, but about building the trust and identity infrastructure that the digital economy desperately needs. As this story unfolds, it will be fascinating to watch how Duna’s vision of a “digital passport” for businesses takes shape and what impact it has on the broader fintech ecosystem.

Tags: Stripe alumni, fintech innovation, business identity verification, KYB, Know Your Business, digital passport, network effects, CapitalG investment, European startup, AI automation, compliance costs, B2B onboarding, Stripe mafia, founder factory, global trust infrastructure

Viral Sentences:

• “Duna’s ambition is to build a network that allows companies to reuse their verified identity information across multiple platforms.”
• “What we want to build over time is a global trust infrastructure where we provide a digital passport for every business.”
• “It’s the rare opportunity to rebuild something as foundational as a Visa and create an amazing business in the process.”
• “In the Netherlands alone — a tiny, tiny country — the four biggest banks employ 14,000 people in compliance.”
• “Once again with Duna, the Stripe connection is never really far.”

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