Digital identification company Onfido cut almost a fifth of its workforce, as revealed in its first results since being acquired by US firm Entrust. 

The group’s financial report for the year ended January 2024 saw the average employee headcount fall by 19% to 224 people, which helped cut Onfido’s operating loss from £31.9m to £12m. 

UKTN has contacted Onfido regarding any further staff cut plans. 

The report also saw revenue fall 10% to £86.8m, however, Onfido said improvements to its core technology and a wider international reach boosted the turnover for its principal activities by 12% to £64.2m. 

The University of Oxford spinout was acquired by American payments group Entrust in April 2024 in a deal that provided the largest return for a student-led startup to the university. 

The latest results from Onfido do not cover the period during which it has operated as a subsidiary of Entrust. 

According to the ID firm, its primary focus remains the development of its technology platform, particularly regarding its integration within Entrust’s portfolio of financial products. 

Onfido said that once integrated, it will help Entrust customers avoid phishing and deepfakes, perform customer and staff onboarding securely and protect data and cryptographic assets with encryption. 

Onfido provides verification services to clients including Revolut, Remitly and bunq. 

The UK government has expressed a strong interest in supporting digital age and identity verification systems to tackle the alarming rates of financial fraud as well as to bolster the effectiveness of the Online Safety Act. 

According to UK Finance, in the first half of 2024, over £570m was stolen through payment fraud in Britain, a decrease of just 1.5% compared with the same period in 2023. In total, £1.17bn was lost to fraud in 2023. 

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