Helix Secures $6.2 Million in Pre-Seed Capital and Launches Voice-Based Human Verification for the AI Era

Helix accurately detect bots and predict age using voice samples in under four seconds

Helix advisors include Dag Kittlaus, co-creator and CEO of Siri

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Helix, a voice-powered human verification platform, today announced it has raised $6.2 million in funding and is now live with its first partners. Helix offers biometric-based identity and age verification in under four seconds, with no data ever leaving the user's phone.  The round was led by Chicago Ventures, with participation from BAM Ventures, Aglaé Ventures, Corazon Capital, Tusk Ventures, Yonder Ventures, Rule30, Press On Ventures, and Brown Angel Group.

"We built Helix to restore trust in every digital interaction. Right now, consumers are scared of having their personal information stolen online, while platforms fight a losing battle against AI to prove whether an account is a real adult or a synthetic agent," said Alex Oberg, CEO and co-founder of Helix. "The traditional approach has been to collect reams of sensitive data, ranging from uploaded driver's licenses to video selfies, which is both cumbersome for customers and puts their privacy at risk. Helix solves these problems by using voice to verify identity and doing so entirely on-device. As we confront a new era of AI fakes and agent proliferation, we are eager to introduce our patented solution and contribute to a safer, more human-powered internet."

"We've spent years teaching machines to understand words. Helix is teaching them to understand the person speaking — and to do it in a way people can trust," said Dag Kittlaus, cofounder and CEO of Siri, cofounder and CEO of Viv.

The Problem Helix is Built to Solve: According to Cloudflare, bots now make up more than 57% of all web traffic. As agents have increased, so too have stories of agents acting without human authorization, from hacking critical websites to accessing customer bank accounts. Generative AI has increased the frequency and sophistication of romance scams, identity theft, and underage access to age-restricted platforms, with generative AI-enabled fraud costing U.S. companies more than $40 billion by 2027. In response, companies have been forced to choose between lower friction, but lower effectiveness solutions like CAPTCHA and SMS or expensive and cumbersome solutions like video selfies — both of which still fall short of stopping today's fraud capabilities.

Helix's Cutting-Edge Solution: Helix verifies that users are human through a simple, four number voice challenge, providing biometric-level security with the low cost and friction of SMS multi-factor authentication. Helix offers their Biometric MFA and Age Assurance entirely on device, without storing any biometric data or other personally identifiable information (PII) on any server. The unique zero-PII architecture can be deployed across verticals ranging from ticketing, to dating, gaming, gambling and fintech. Platforms can integrate with Helix through either a software development kit (SDK) or via a single line in Claude Code or OpenAI Codex deployments.

The External Standards and Certifications Secured by Helix: Helix is also one of the only audio companies in the world that meets the stringent ISO/IEC 27566-1:2025, an international standard for age assurance systems, and is fully accredited by the Age Check Certification Scheme (ACCS), a rigorous, independent, third-party auditor. Helix is also one of the first companies certified under the IEEE Online Age Verification Certification Program, which is the framework used by New York's SAFE for Kids Act, taking effect January 2027. This new law requires independently certified, highly effective age assurance and at least one option that does not require a government ID for all platforms with an algorithmically driven feed. Helix's approach, voice, fits that exactly.

Helix's Launch Partner: Helix is currently in beta with early partners, such as Zeel, a leading in-home health and wellness platform, as an additional measure for their verification processes.

"The Trust and Safety landscape is changing quickly, particularly as AI creates new challenges around identity and verification," said Samer Hamadeh, founder and CEO of Zeel. "At Zeel, we believe it's important to continually evaluate new approaches to strengthening trust. Helix is one of the technologies we're exploring as we think about how Trust and Safety needs to evolve for the AI era."

"Combatting bots has remained one of the biggest and toughest challenges facing the ticketing industry. In spite of the myriad of tools and defenses we employed at Ticketmaster, it remained a continuous arms race that will require new approaches in AI era. The voice-powered capabilities being employed by Helix are one of the most unique and effective approaches I've seen to make a real improvement for people and platforms in all sectors online," said Jared Smith, former President and Global Chairman at Ticketmaster and Helix board member and investor. 

"AI has fundamentally changed the landscape of fraud and impersonation, exposing the limitations of legacy approaches to identity and human verification. Helix is redefining human verification through voice - seamless for consumers, privacy-first, and purpose-built for the AI era. Alex and the team bring deep expertise solving identity and trust challenges at scale, and we believe Helix is building critical infrastructure for digital trust," said Eric Duboe, Partner at Chicago Ventures.

ABOUT HELIX

Helix is a voice-enabled human verification company created for the AI era. Through one SDK integration, Helix offers Bot Management, Biometric MFA, and Age Assurance, all built on the same privacy-by-architecture principles where zero data ever leaves a user's device. Founded by engineers from Ticketmaster, Tinder, and Zillow, Helix's mission is to restore trust in every digital interaction. Helix is backed by Chicago Ventures, BAM Ventures, Aglaé Ventures, Corazon Capital, Tusk Ventures, Yonder Ventures, Rule30, Press On Ventures and Brown Angel Group. For more information, visit https://helix.id/.

SOURCE Helix