← Embedded Finance Index 2026

Unico

“Can a Brazilian facial-biometrics identity network become the global authentication layer for high-risk transactions in the GenAI/deepfake era?”

Founded2007
HQSão Paulo, Brazil
Latest roundSeries D, $100M
IndustryInfrastructure / Identity

The story

Founded 2007 in Brazil as Acesso Digital, originally a document-digitalization business (SafeDoc) for banks and enterprises. Pivoted around 2016 from document management to facial-biometric identity verification, rebranding as Unico. Now positions as the largest identity-validation network in Latin America with 1.2B+ checks per year, expanding into transaction-time use cases like IDPay (binding facial biometrics to credit-card and PIX payments) — a deliberate move from KYC vendor toward embedded payment authentication.

Last 12 months

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Product timeline

Launched Unico IDPay combining identity verification with credit card ownership validation.· pivot

2007

Founded as Acesso Digital, launched SafeDoc for document digitalization in financial/enterprise sectors.· pivot

2016

Pivoted from document management to digital identity verification via facial biometrics.· pivot

2019

Rebranded as Unico and expanded IDCloud identity verification platform.· pivot

Same company

Unico was analysed under more than one name on the same domain, so its stack is split across these dossiers. Each was analysed independently and may name providers the others do not.

Unico ID2 layers →

The stack

2 layers disclosed in Unico’s embedded-finance stack

Payments / PSP

Unico IDPay (self-operated)

Money movement

in the full report

Accounting gap: none

1 more provider across 1 layer, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.

Unico — frequently asked

Who is Unico's payment processor?

Unico processes payments through Unico IDPay (self-operated). Disclosed money-movement rails: Pix.

What is Unico's embedded finance stack?

The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 2 layers in Unico's stack: Payments / PSP (Unico IDPay (self-operated)); Money movement (Pix).

Where is Unico headquartered?

Unico is founded in 2007 and headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil.

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