Building trust in community-based mobility in Costa Rica

About Ventu

Ventu is a community-based mobility platform founded in Costa Rica with a clear mission: to create a smarter, more transparent way to rent cars while supporting local families and businesses. Founded by Adriana Cespedes, Ventu connects travellers with local car owners, offering an alternative to large international rental brands and informal peer-to-peer arrangements that often lack safeguards.

“As travellers, you basically had two options,” Adriana explains. “The big brands, where you can feel like just a number, or renting directly from individuals, where you’re handing over credit cards and documents to strangers. We wanted to bridge that gap.”

Built on years of experience in Costa Rica’s tourism and mobility sectors, Ventu was designed from the ground up as a trust-first platform. “We started building Ventu as a trust platform, not just a car rental marketplace,” says Adriana. “Trust was the foundation of everything.”

What business problem did Veriff solve for Ventu?

Trust and identity verification were non-negotiable requirements for Ventu’s launch. Renting vehicles in Costa Rica comes with strict legal and practical risks, particularly for car owners. If a renter is driving with an invalid licence, the consequences fall on the owner, including fines and even vehicle seizure.

“One of the biggest issues we identified was knowing who you’re renting to,” Adriana says. “Owners were taking real risks because they had no reliable way to verify licences from different countries.”

Ventu’s customers come from across the globe, particularly the US, Canada and Europe. This creates a complex verification challenge. “Just in the US, for example, there are over 50 different types of state driver’s licences,” Adriana explains. “For a small business, it’s impossible to know which documents are real, current, or valid.”

Without automated identity verification, small car rental operators were relying on manual checks that were both unreliable and risky. “They were willing to take that risk because there was no alternative,” Adriana says. “But it wasn’t sustainable.”

Veriff provided Ventu with a way to embed robust identity and driver’s licence verification directly into its platform, forming a core part of the company’s minimum viable product. “We couldn’t launch without this trust layer,” Adriana says. “It was essential from day one.”

What made the difference to Ventu when choosing Veriff?

As an early-stage startup, Ventu evaluated several identity verification providers before selecting Veriff. The deciding factors were flexibility, scalability, and a startup-friendly approach.

“We explored at least four other companies,” Adriana recalls. “Some of them simply weren’t accessible to a startup. Their entry level was too high for us to even build our MVP.”

Equally important was Veriff’s ability to grow alongside Ventu. “We didn’t want to rebuild our platform once we were ready to scale,” Adriana explains. “Veriff allowed us to start small and grow within the same integration.”

The technical integration was also a key differentiator. Ventu chose an API-based integration that kept users inside the Ventu app throughout the verification process. “Having verification inside our own app, without sending users elsewhere, was really important for the customer experience,” Adriana says.

Implementation was fast and straightforward. “From the first tests inside the platform, it took about 48 hours,” she says. “The documentation was clear, and the process was very smooth for our developers.”

What was the impact of using Veriff?

Veriff has become a central pillar of Ventu’s trust strategy, benefiting both sides of its marketplace: travellers and car owners.

For car owners, identity verification is a major selling point. “It’s a strong reassurance for owners,” Adriana says. “They get an added layer of security at no extra cost, and it solves a problem they were really struggling with.”

For travellers, Veriff helps eliminate anxiety around sharing sensitive documents. “Customers aren’t handing their licence to a random person or sending photos over WhatsApp,” Adriana explains. “They’re verifying through a secure, trusted third party.”

The verification process has proven reliable in real-world use. Adriana recalls an early case involving a Chilean driver’s licence that lacked a birth date. “We couldn’t understand why it was failing at first,” she says. “Veriff’s support team helped us identify the issue and resolve it within a few hours.”

From a fraud perspective, it is still early days, but the preventative value is already clear. “Just saying out loud that licence verification is required causes some people to drop out of the process,” Adriana notes. “That’s already an indicator that it’s helping us prevent risk.”

Importantly, Veriff has not introduced meaningful friction for legitimate users. “We haven’t had complaints,” Adriana says. “The process feels like a natural step inside the platform, not an obstacle.”

Looking ahead, Adriana believes identity verification will become the industry standard in mobility. “This is the first layer of security,” she says. “You’re not just verifying a licence, you’re verifying that the person holding it is real and present. That’s what owners need, and that’s what will become the norm.”

About Veriff

Veriff is an identity verification and authentication platform that helps build trust in the online world. Our AI-native technology combines the power of automation with human feedback to rapidly and accurately verify user identities across the globe with minimal friction. Our platform analyzes thousands of data points, from biometrics to government documents, to ensure the person is who they say they are. Veriff is the preferred partner for innovative, growth-driven organizations, including online marketplaces, financial services, gaming, and mobility companies, and sectors.

Veriff’s trust infrastructure enables businesses to comply with regulations, safeguard users, fight fraud, and achieve global growth. When trust is built, opportunities are limitless. But trust isn’t just about technology. It’s about people and protecting identities, fostering transparency, and creating an internet where businesses and individuals can connect with confidence, increasing trust and making the internet a force for good.