Building the future of trust: how Veriff balances innovation and discipline

When Veriff’s story is told, it often starts with founder Kaarel Kotkas and the bold idea that identity could be verified online as securely as it is in person. But behind that vision is a team of technologists, thinkers, and believers who have helped shape the company’s evolution from a startup in Tallinn to a global force in digital trust.

In episode three of “Veriff 10 Podcasts”, Board of Directors member Ott Kaukver and Hubert Behaghel, Veriff’s Chief Product and Technology Officer, join host Anisah Osman Britton to share their perspectives on scaling innovation, building with discipline, and preparing for a future where identity, human and machine, continues to evolve.

Podcast produced by Any Other Business

From trusted advisor to Veriff board member

Ott’s connection to Veriff goes back to the early days, when Kaarel was still growing a team of just 15 people. As an experienced engineering and product leader at Skype, Twilio, and Checkout.com, Ott was one of the first people Kaarel turned to for advice.

Over the years, their conversations often revolved around how to build and scale a strong product and engineering culture. “He’d call every few months,” Ott recalls, “to talk through how to set up a product, how to structure teams, how to grow responsibly.”

When Kaarel later asked him to join Veriff’s board, it felt like a natural extension of their long-standing partnership. “Now,” Ott says, “I spend time helping him reflect on the future possibilities, what comes next, and how to get there.”

One story has become legend inside Veriff: the moment when a young Kaarel called Ott to ask if he should sell the company after receiving a tempting acquisition offer. Ott’s response was simple: What do you want to do? When Kaarel answered, I don’t want to sell, Ott told him, “Then you already have your answer.”

That moment of clarity, choosing belief over the easy route, still defines Veriff’s culture today.

Joining at a pivotal moment in Veriff

For Hubert, who joined Veriff in 2022, the attraction was twofold: the mission and the people. “When they contacted me, I was intrigued,” he says. “I wanted to go deeper into AI, and Veriff was already an AI-native company. But what convinced me was Kaarel, and then the team.”

At the time, Veriff had just achieved unicorn status and was expanding beyond its original identity verification (IDV) product into new areas. “We were at this fascinating crossroads,” Hubert explains. “The company had strong foundations, but it was time to accelerate, to build multi-product capabilities and a new level of discipline.”

That blend of ambition and structure became the foundation of Veriff’s next growth chapter.

The bionic company – Veriff

A recurring theme in the conversation is the harmony between humans and machines, not one replacing the other, but each enhancing the other’s strengths.

Hubert describes Veriff as a “bionic company”: one that uses AI to scale precision while keeping human judgment at the core. “Veriff has found a way to combine the human element and the machine element,” he says. “That’s what makes us different.”

It’s also what allows Veriff to stay ahead of an ever-shifting landscape. “Fraud is always moving,” Hubert adds. “Online behavior changes constantly. So we’re obsessed with metrics. Accuracy, fraud detection, resolution time, because excellence depends on it.”

For both leaders, that commitment to constant improvement is what defines Veriff’s culture. “There’s a strong sense of ownership here,” Hubert says. “Everyone feels responsible for maintaining that standard.”

Balancing innovation and focus in Veriff

With so much hype around AI, agentic systems, and the next wave of digital identity, it can be easy for any company to chase every new trend. Ott and Hubert agree that Veriff’s success depends on balancing innovation with discipline.

“Our customers come first,” says Ott. “We have to enable and secure their businesses, that’s our job number one. But we also need to place smart bets on what’s coming next.”

It’s a constant balancing act: serving today’s needs while building tomorrow’s opportunities. “If you only listen to customers, you’ll miss the next wave,” Ott explains. “But if you only innovate, you risk losing focus. The trick is getting the balance right.”

That philosophy has become a guiding mantra inside Veriff, often summed up in Ott’s now-famous phrase: Sell what’s on the truck. It’s a reminder to double down on what’s proven before chasing what’s possible.

Hubert agrees. “Veriff’s excellence lies in what we already have,” he says. “We shouldn’t back down from selling what’s on the truck until we’ve reached 90% of the market. Once a product is truly excellent, that’s when it deserves to scale.”

Engineering trust in the AI era

Both leaders see AI not as a disruptor but as an amplifier of Veriff’s mission. “AI is actually good for our business,” Hubert says. “The need for trust, for verifying who or what is behind the action, only increases as the digital world gets more complex.”

Ott shares that view but looks further ahead: “Imagine a world where you no longer act online yourself, you give permission to a set of machines to act on your behalf. How does identity work in that world? That’s the opportunity for Veriff.”

In a decade that has redefined what it means to be “real” online, Veriff’s role, securing trust between people, systems, and now intelligent agents, has never been more essential.

Looking ahead: the next decade of trust

As Veriff celebrates its 10-year anniversary, both Ott and Hubert are focused on what’s next.

“I think in ten years there will be many more things to verify and many more ways to verify them,” Hubert says. “The future may even flip: instead of companies choosing their trust provider, consumers might come with one of their own.”

Ott nods to the pace of change: “Technology moves so fast that what’s new today will be old in six months. But one thing won’t change, the need for trust. Our job is to stay ahead of it.”

Ten years in, that mission, to make the digital world safer and more human, feels more relevant than ever.