Honey Badger launched Pre-KYC, a product for automated risk identification before traditional know-your-customer checks, according to a 20 March 2024 PR Newswire release. The London-based firm said the service runs an instant assessment using alternative data so likely bad actors can be flagged before document capture, liveness or proof-of-address steps add cost and friction.
Signals described in the release included email age and reputation, mobile-provider verification, social presence, devices, IP addresses and third-party databases. The process was characterised as fully automated and invisible to the end user, aimed at fintechs and financial institutions that want to thin out high-risk applicants earlier in onboarding.
The 2024 announcement did not name customers or quantify uplift. Honey Badger still centres its public product story on identity, intent and risk signals — including orchestrated decisioning and raw data APIs — which sits in the same family as the Pre-KYC launch even as packaging has evolved on the company's marketing site.
Pre-KYC was presented as a way to cut KYC spend by stopping obviously risky traffic before expensive verification workflows run, without asking the applicant to complete document steps first.