Persona and Yardstik Join Forces to Deliver the First Truly Integrated Identity Verification and Background Screening Solution

The partnership marks the first time organizations can access both identity verification and background screening through a single integration, helping organizations reduce risk and onboard trustworthy workers faster

SAN FRANCISCO, June 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Persona, the leading verified identity platform, and Yardstik, the technology-first background screening platform, today announced their partnership to deliver the first jointly integrated identity verification and background screening solution. This collaboration enables organizations to verify workers are who they say they are and whether they pose a risk, all in one seamless system—addressing the dual challenges of sophisticated fraud and a competitive hiring landscape.

The partnership enables organizations to defend against fraud and bad actors at every stage of the user journey: pre-hire, onboarding, and post-hire, while providing faster, smoother access to work and coordinated data systems for organizations to manage risk. The integration unites Persona's identity verification and Yardstik's full suite of screening products—including criminal checks, MVR checks, drug screening, continuous monitoring, and more.

Organizations face mounting pressure from fraud and competition

Organizations today face a dual threat: rising fraud sophistication and growing competition for workers. To stay ahead, they need efficiency and systems they can trust. Background checks often run on unverified or fraudulent users, wasting time and money, while fragmented experiences across multiple tools make it difficult to create a unified risk view of users. These issues create friction for workers, cause headaches for internal teams, and leave organizations vulnerable to sophisticated attacks.

"Organizations are caught in an impossible bind—they need to move fast to secure the best talent while ensuring they're not onboarding bad actors," said Rick Song, CEO and co-founder of Persona. "Traditional approaches force them to choose between speed and security. The collaboration with Yardstik eliminates that trade-off by creating the first truly unified solution that lets platforms verify identity and assess risk simultaneously, without compromising the user experience."

Revolutionary integration delivers comprehensive risk management

With the Persona-Yardstik integration now live, organizations can streamline risk management and speed up onboarding—unlocking key benefits such as:

• Unified onboarding system for faster time to value
  Organizations can streamline procurement and implementation with a single integration, contract, and user experience. By eliminating duplicate data entry and reducing the need to navigate between disparate tools, they can accelerate onboarding, reduce operational complexity, and provide workers with a faster, more intuitive journey.
• Centralized risk decisioning
  Organizations gain a single source of truth for risk and hiring decisions by consolidating identity verification and background check data into one unified user profile. With all signals in one place, teams can take—and automate—context-rich actions across the user lifecycle, from onboarding and adjudication to updates within internal systems like CRMs and ERPs.
• Conversion optimized flows for end-users
  Organizations can improve completion rates and reduce user drop-off with a seamless, branded onboarding experience, rather than the clunky handoffs previously offered on the market. Verified identity information automatically pre-fills background check forms, minimizing friction for users. Persona's Dynamic Flow further tailors the flows in real time based on user risk signals—ensuring compliance while optimizing for speed and usability.

"Both companies conducted thorough evaluations and this integration was a clear winner," said Andrew Johnson, Yardstik CEO. "With aligned missions and a shared focus on solving real customer problems through modern technology, the partnership was a natural fit. Not only is it a clear win for our mutual customers who will benefit from one centralized risk program, but it's a win for the whole market. We're excited for what's to come."

Persona's identity verification solution is already trusted today by leading marketplaces like Taskrabbit, GetYourGuide, Fiverr, and Lyft, and Yardstik's background screening solution is leveraged by leading companies like Skipcart, Workwhile, Bacon, and Bellhop.

About Persona

Persona offers a unified identity platform that gives businesses the building blocks they need to securely collect, verify, manage, and make decisions about individuals' and businesses' identities — along with automation and orchestration tools to streamline the entire process from end to end.

Founded in 2018, Persona is headquartered in San Francisco and is available in 200+ countries and territories and 20 different languages. Persona serves any business that needs to verify its customers online, including AI platforms, retail, fintech, marketplace, delivery services, real estate and hospitality, HR, edtech, legal services, home and childcare services, and more. For additional information, please visit https://withpersona.com/

About Yardstik

Yardstik is a technology company that helps high-volume hiring businesses run fewer background checks. Launched in Minneapolis in 2020, the company is reinventing risk technology for the modern era. Yardstik's mix of screening, fraud, and compliance products helps organizations optimize worker vetting and expedite business growth. Today, thousands of customers trust Yardstik's technology and team to manage their pre- and post-hire risk.

SOURCE Persona