Amsterdam-based Duna, a startup addressing business identity with a platform that combines regulatory compliance with user experience, has announced its €10.7 million Seed round in order to accelerate product development and expand its network across Europe and beyond.
Duna’s platform for compliant business identity helps large enterprises like Plaid, Bol, Moss, Sequra, and Brand New Day Bank to grow their customer base while adhering to increasing regulation like AMLD5/6, PSD2/3, DAC7, DORA and the Supply Chain Transparency Act.
„Over time, Duna’s product will evolve into a network for shareable business identity: making business identification as simple as two clicks. The product drives substantial business impact: within six months, onboarding conversion has gone up around 38% for enterprises.” – according to the press release.
“Business onboarding used to be a cost center for Plaid. Now, it’s a revenue driver thanks to Duna’s intuitive onboarding flows, compliance automation, and high-end UX”, said Zak Lambert, Plaid’s VP EMEA.
“Identity remains one of the internet’s largest unsolved problems,” says Duco van Lanschot, Duna’s founder. “In 1993, The New Yorker published an iconic cartoon featuring two dogs. One sits in front of a computer, saying to the other: On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog. Ever since, little has changed. Identity remains tied to legacy systems resulting in billions lost to fraud, friction and fines. We built Duna to fix that.”
“In a fast-moving AI landscape, we generate flawless images without a camera and draft legal arguments without a day in law school. Yet when it comes to business identity, we’re still stuck in the era of spreadsheets. Duna helps businesses drive historically paper-heavy compliance analysis without requiring manual work”, said David Schreiber, Duna’s founder. “We’re building a future where businesses do have digital passports – so businesses can identify themselves instantly, securely, and universally.„
Adyen co-founder and CEO Pieter van der Does is an official advisor to the company: “There are many similarities between the level of complexity Duna set out to solve and what motivated us when starting Adyen”, he said.
Duna’s seed round is led by Index Ventures. “Duna has an exceptional team with talent from the likes of Adyen, Stripe and Framer,” commented Index Ventures Partner Jan Hammer. “We’re thrilled to partner with David and Duco as they not only re-imagine business onboarding, but also pursue their vision to become the global identity network. We know they’re poised to redefine an industry long overdue for change.”
Next to Index, Puzzle Ventures’ Gloria Bauerlein participated in the round: „I invest as much in an idea as in talent. It’s been years since I’ve known David and Duco, and the question was never if, but when they would found an industry-defining company„, she said.
Alongside Index, Duna is backed by an exceptional group of tech executives including Frank Slootman (Snowflake, former CEO), Mariette Swart (Adyen CRCO), David Singleton (Stripe former CTO), Akshay Kothari (founder Notion), Ethan Tandowsky (Adyen CFO), Alexandre Prot (founder Qonto), Claire Hughes Johnson (Stripe COO), Adriaan Mol (founder Mollie), Frederick Reynolds (FIS CRCO ), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (Vercel COO), Job van der Voort (founder Remote), Jean-Charles Samuelian (founder Alan), Eléonore Crespo (founder Pigment), Stephanie Cohen (Goldman Sachs former CSO), Hanno Renner (founder Personio), Guillaume Princen (Anthropic VP EMEA), Matt Briers (Wis, former CFO), and Michael Cocoman (Stripe CCO).
In addition, the Duna foundation holds one third of the company’s shares:
“A non-profit is one of our largest owners because building something meaningful equals creating value for everyone: our customers, our team, our shareholders, and the world around us. As our business grows, so should our positive impact on the planet and its people. We believe the best companies serve more than just shareholders”, said Schreiber and van Lanschot.
Duna’s founders David Schreiber and Duco van Lanschot were early Stripe-employees and held C-suite roles at Trade Republic Bank and identity company Fourthline. In these leadership roles, they experienced business identity is not an add-on, but needs dedicated infrastructure. Duna’s team also draws experience of senior executives and engineers who previously scaled Spotify, Adyen, Stripe, and Airbnb.
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Duna is redefining business identity. Its first product is a business identity platform for businesses where compliance matters. Over time, this will evolve into a network for shareable identity – making onboarding as simple as one click. Customers include enterprises like Plaid, Bol, Sequra, and Moss. Together, they serve millions of businesses. Duna is backed by Index Ventures and executives from Stripe, Adyen, Snowflake, Notion and Goldman Sachs.
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