Helix has raised $6.2 million in pre-seed funding and launched its voice-based human verification platform with initial partners, targeting businesses seeking to distinguish people from automated accounts while limiting the collection of sensitive information. Chicago Ventures led the round, with participation from BAM Ventures, Aglaé Ventures, Corazon Capital, Tusk Ventures, Yonder Ventures, Rule30, Press On Ventures and Brown Angel Group.
The platform uses a four-number voice challenge to verify that a user is human. Helix says its technology can provide biometric authentication and estimate age in under four seconds, with processing performed on the user’s device.
According to the company, its architecture does not store biometric information or other personally identifiable information on a server. The approach is intended to reduce reliance on uploaded identity documents and video-based verification.
Helix offers bot management, biometric multifactor authentication and age assurance through a software development kit. Potential applications include ticketing, dating, gaming, gambling and financial technology.
The company is in beta with early partners including Zeel, an in-home health and wellness platform, which is evaluating Helix as an additional verification measure.
Helix also reported accreditation from the Age Check Certification Scheme and certification under the IEEE Online Age Verification Certification Program. These credentials form part of its effort to serve platforms evaluating independently assessed age assurance technologies.
Founded by engineers with experience at Ticketmaster, Tinder and Zillow, Helix is led by Co-Founder and CEO Alex Oberg. Its advisors include Siri co-creator Dag Kittlaus, while former Ticketmaster President and Global Chairman Jared Smith is a board member and investor.
The launch focuses on combining a short user interaction with on-device processing as businesses reassess verification tools in response to increasingly capable AI-generated impersonation.
KEY QUOTES:
“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. 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.”
Alex Oberg, CEO And Co-Founder Of Helix
“The Trust and Safety landscape is changing quickly, particularly as AI creates new challenges around identity and verification. 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.”
Samer Hamadeh, Founder And CEO Of Zeel
“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.”
Eric Duboe, Partner At Chicago Ventures
