Veriff and Breakout Capital: making complex lending simple with a shared culture of transparency

About Breakout Capital

Breakout Capital is one of the fastest growing fintechs in the US and is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina, with offices in McLean, Virginia.

As a strong advocate for small business growth, Breakout Capital provides responsible working capital solutions tailored specifically to the needs of its clients across the US.

What business problem did Veriff solve for Breakout Capital?

Prior to partnering with Veriff, Breakout Capital used manual in-house processes to check and verify the identities of applicants. These processes were intensive and took up a lot of time and resources that could have been used in ways more beneficial to the business.

Without internal ID expertise, another issue that the company faced was keeping people trained and up-to-speed on what the latest driver’s licenses looked like across the various US states, and knowing how to identify inauthentic ones.

“This issue eventually led to a tipping point for us – a fraudulent ID was submitted and not caught, and it was later discovered that this was a case of identity theft,” explained Caitlyn Wagner, VP of Breakout’s Closing Department. “That is a costly mistake for us and it quickly became apparent that help was needed in this area. That’s when we turned to Veriff and I feel completely comfortable that we are now in very good hands.”

What made the difference to Breakout Capital when choosing Veriff?

Breakout Capital began looking into solutions that would help take ID verification away from its in-house team. Following an online search, it explored the offerings of one of our competitors, but found that a lot was being asked of Breakout Capital in terms of building and testing code.

Having decided against this option, some of the team reached out to peers in the industry and were guided towards Veriff. The team were struck by the simplicity of the site, processes, pricing and offerings – with everything they needed to make a decision easily available.

As part of the discovery process, Breakout Capital had to verify itself with Veriff. “Had it been painful and cumbersome for me to submit a copy of my own driver’s licence, I probably wouldn’t have continued the conversation,” says Ian Bradley, Senior Vice President, Operations and Technology at Breakout Capital. “I would have just kicked it to the curb. But sure enough, it was relatively simple and straightforward. I remember speaking to one of my colleagues and saying, ‘I just verified with Veriff and it literally took me a minute’.”

From here, it took Breakout Capital around 48 hours to be up and running. As well as speed and simplicity, what appealed was the fact that the journey was friction-free and scalable. “We needed something that worked out of the box and that could be stood up quickly,” says Bradley. “We knew that we would be using Veriff less frequently to begin with, but had to know that the solution would be right for the future, too – when we would be using Veriff five times an hour compared to five times a day. We were looking for a hands-off solution that returned value and could evolve and match our needs later down the line.”

What was the immediate impact of implementing Veriff?

Veriff has had a huge impact on fraud prevention at Breakout Capital. “There have been several occasions where Veriff has returned failures, which makes me feel good about the product,” says Bradley. “It’s not just approving everything that comes in. There was one time when a gentleman was, in his own words, too lazy to walk out to his car. So, he took a picture of his driver's licence on his computer screen. The software knew that this was not a physical copy. He was able to pass when he got his driver's licence out of his car, but situations like that help us see the value in the product.” 

Breakout Capital has found that potential borrowers generally aren’t put off by this extra layer of security, either, given how quick and painless it is. In fact, it’s often seen as a commercial differentiator in that borrowers associate it with robust processes. “At the end of the day, the smallest loan that we're going to give you is $50,000, which is a lot of money,” says Bradley. “Most people don’t mind taking one minute to validate in order to receive that amount of money. There isn’t really a logical defence for not proving who they are, especially when you consider that there are many lower-ticket offerings that require much more strenuous activity.”

About Veriff

Veriff is the preferred identity verification partner for the world’s biggest and best digital companies, including pioneers in fintech, crypto, gaming, and the mobility sectors. We provide advanced technology, deep insights, and expertise from our foundation in digital-first Estonia and honed in leading the digital identity revolution. The partner of choice for businesses who need to rapidly and effortlessly verify online users from anywhere in the world, Veriff delivers the widest possible identity document coverage.

By supporting government-issued IDs from more than 230 issuing countries and territories and with our intelligent decision engine which analyzes thousands of technological and behavioral variables Veriff enables trust from the first hello. With more than 550 people from 60 different nationalities and offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, and Estonia, we are dedicated to helping businesses and individuals build a safer and more secure online world.