French digital onboarding startup Prelude has raised $20m in a Series A funding round led by Harry Stebbings’ 20VC, which is investing in the startup for the first time. Other investors in the round include existing investors Singular, Seedcamp, Deel and FDJ Ventures.
Angel investors in the round include Synthesia co-founder Steffen Tjerrild; Antoine Le Nel, Revolut CMO; and Cleo founder Barney Hussey-Yeo. Prelude has raised $27m to date.
Founded in 2023, Prelude started by helping companies with user SMS verification but is evolving into a full-stack platform for digital onboarding, helping companies verify and protect users, from issues like fraud, during their time as customers.
It says it’s fixing the “hidden tax" of broken onboarding that companies face, pointing to inflated SMS bills and fraud that slips through the net.
It argues that legacy providers still charge extortionate rates, rely on outdated dashboards which lack any granularity, and offer limited customer support.
