Verix is a groundbreaking authentication and verification platform powered by blockchain and generative AI (GenAI). Pulse 2.0 interviewed Verix co-founder and CEO Kirthiga Reddy to learn more about the company.
Kirthiga Reddy’s Background
Could you tell me more about your background? Reddy said:
“I am a builder at heart. I am driven by the mantra, ‘When businesses succeed, livelihoods flourish.’”
“My first decade of building was on the engineering side at Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI), a high-performance computing company. SGI powered transformative advancements like the human genome project, landing on Mars, and making Jurassic Park.”
“After pursuing my MBA at Stanford Business School, my next decade of building was on the business side. I was Meta’s first employee in India and the Managing Director of Facebook India and South Asia for over six years.”
“I set up one of Facebook’s global operations centers that serve over 3B people, built the Asia Pacific Small Medium Enterprise business, and helped the India business attain hundreds of millions in annual revenue. It was transformative to play a central role in the country going digital and mobile. My subsequent role at Facebook as Managing Global Partner and Emerging Markets Lead for Global Accounts focused on emerging and high-growth markets including Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa, and the Middle East.”
“I missed the building and scaling stages and transitioned to the investing side. I was the first female Investment Partner at SoftBank Vision Fund, with $130B+ of assets under management. I led about $1 billion of new investments across fast-evolving sectors like web3, metaverse, gaming, quantum computing, additive manufacturing, mental wellness, and enterprise, with an overall portfolio of $5B+. I served on the Investment Committee for Emerge, a global accelerator for brilliant companies led by underrepresented founders.”
“My current decade is about entrepreneurship with Verix, a high-growth venture-funded startup defining the industry standard for verification in this age of digital transformation and AI. Our customers range from Big Tech to award organizations and nonprofits — including Netflix, Amdocs, Glider.ai, The Stevie Awards, and Room to Read.”.
“I am on the Board of Trustees at Syracuse University and served as the chair of the Stanford Business School Management Board. I have also served on several public, private, and non-profit boards, including the Board of Directors at WeWork (NYSE: WE), which I joined as part of the business turnaround, Fungible (acquired by MSFT), and the Teach for India US Advisory Board.”
Formation Of The Company
How did the idea for the company come together? Reddy shared:
“My co-founder, Saurabh Doshi, and I have known each other for over a decade. Saurabh joined Facebook as Head of Media and Entertainment when we were still working out of a business center and didn’t even have an office of our own! Saurabh rose rapidly at Facebook and went on to lead the charter at an Asia Pacific level.”
“We kept in touch over the years as I relocated back to Facebook US and transitioned to SoftBank. One of our regular catch-up conversations became a brainstorming session about AI, blockchain, and the future. Very soon, this led us to a decision to start our company. The original vision was to solve creator monetization using AI and blockchain technology. We wanted to use blockchain-enabled authentication of digital assets to track ownership in an immutable, permanent way.”
“We bootstrapped at first and then raised an oversubscribed $8M seed round from institutional and angel investors at the forefront of technology-driven transitions. Soon after our product launch, we saw inbound pull from enterprise customers who wanted us to be their verification and authentication partner for awards, certifications, skills, proof-of-work, accomplishments, and more. We fully pivoted to the enterprise business over the summer of ‘24 and are excited about the transformative impact we’re making in restoring trust and transparency in this world of deep fakes and AI.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Reddy reflected:
“Ranking 5 out of 5 in end-of-quarter customer success surveys across dimensions like how well we met our customers’ needs and if they will recommend us again. To me, our ranking is indicative of our ability to serve large, unmet needs!”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Reddy explained:
“In the age of AI, companies use the Verix platform to guarantee the authenticity of things that matter the most — including skills, awards, achievements, certifications, tickets, products, or content.”
“Powered by blockchain technology and GenAI, Verix allows organizations to seamlessly manage authentication and verification workflows. Key features include:
— The ability to effortlessly create blockchain certificates using AI, a template, your own branding elements, and even video and animation
— You can also attach custom videos, content or community access for extra engagement
— Instant sharing on social media to promote both the recipient’s achievement and the company’s brand
— If a recipient gains extra skills, courses or achievements, the ‘living’ certificate can change as well to reflect the growth
— A full suite of analytics tools so you know who’s redeeming certificates, claiming awards and sharing on LinkedIn
Verix also provides the security and instant verification of blockchain — even if a certificate is printed.”
Evolution Of The Company’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Reddy noted:
“Virtualness was conceived as a platform that made digital creation and minting quick, easy, and intuitive for creators. However, as the perception of blockchain technology shifted and we observed that enterprises saw incredible value in the platform for applications where security, trust, and verifiability are essential, we shifted our goals and resources to maximize this new business-to-business focus – and our new platform, Verix, was born.”
“We had to invest significantly in our AI-powered design and creation capabilities, enterprise compliance, analytics, and integration with enterprise workflows (e.g. Salesforce integration).”
“We’ve also worked to become multi-chain and currently live on Polygon and SKALE.”
“The change required market education — moving the public beyond the original vision and repositioning the platform to offer meaningful, future-proof solutions for verifying proof of work, skill, credentials, awards, and products.”
Customer Success Stories
When asking Reddy about customer success stories, he highlighted:
“Some of our most significant milestones have come from key partnerships that showcase the transformative power of blockchain and AI in verification and credentialing. One example is our collaboration with Amdocs, where we integrated blockchain-backed certification into their HR department. This allowed Amdocs to issue verifiable certificates for excellence, innovation, and human-centric skills, reinforcing their dedication to celebrating authenticity and creativity in a world increasingly shaped by AI. More than half of recipients claimed their awards in the first 48 hours, of which 80% shared on LinkedIn.”
“A standout success has been our work with Persija, one of Asia’s largest football teams. We initially helped them launch player cards and gaming, but our partnership has since evolved to include streamlining eSports event registrations through Verix badges, generating significant revenue for the team.”
“TiE, the world’s largest organization focused on entrepreneurship, has also embraced Verix to issue startup award badges and provide access to exclusive cohort events. The company has expanded its use of our platform to badge attendees, speakers, volunteers, and judges at its global conferences, underscoring the adaptability of our solutions across different sectors.”
“Other notable examples include Indri’s Game of Thrones Limited Edition Premium Spirits authentication, eWOW’s voting and badging for Women in Cloud Guinness World Record winners, and the Asian Academy Creative Awards (AAA’s), where authentic digital awards were introduced alongside the iconic prestigious golden statuettes.”
“To date, Verix has been adopted by over 200 enterprises and used by over 200,000 users across more than 100 countries. Our platform is widely utilized for employee awards, workforce upskilling, product authentication, and many more critical areas, reflecting the growing global demand for secure, transparent verification processes and our proven ability to meet that demand. These success stories highlight the versatility of our platform and demonstrate how Verix is setting the industry standard for the future of trust and verification across industries.”
Funding
When asking Reddy about the company’s funding details, she revealed:
“We’ve raised $8 million in seed funding and have had follow-on funding, taking us to eight figures. Our seed funding round was led by Blockchange Ventures, with participation from Polygon Ventures, F7 Ventures, Micron Ventures, Oceans Ventures, Neythri Futures Fund, Carolyn Everson, Randi Zuckerberg, Nusier Yassin, Nikki Farb, and Stacy Brown-Philpot.”
Future Goals
What are some of the company’s future goals? Reddy emphasized:
“We plan on expanding enterprise integrations and new use cases, such as member organization badging. For example, TiE Silicon Valley, part of the world’s largest nonprofit focused on entrepreneurship, is badging each of its Charter Members, and the digital verifiable badges are used for entry to IRL events. They’re also used to track engagement offline and online.”
“We also have several large confidential partnership initiatives underway, each of which are trajectory-changing for the consumers served, the industry, and Verix. Stay tuned for more information on these as they roll out.”
Additional Thoughts
Any other topics you would like to discuss? Reddy concluded:
“Saurabh and I share the philosophy of ‘Hire the right people, build the right culture, set the right vision,’ and business results are a by-product.”
“We have top 5% talent across functions and have teams across seven countries and major cities, including the U.S., the U.K., India, Dubai, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Peru.”
