Prelude raises 20 million US dollars. With new APIs for authentication and fraud prevention, Prelude wants to distinguish real users from bots and AI agents. News by Marc Nemitz · Paris, 21. May 2026 The startup Prelude has closed a Series A financing round of 20 million US dollars. The round was led by 20VC. Existing investors Singular, Seedcamp, Deel and FDJ UNITED Ventures also participated. Prelude has thus raised a total of 27 million US dollars to date. The company is developing an infrastructure for digital onboarding and trust management in the age of AI agents, bots and automated user interactions. AI agents are changing digital identity verification. Prelude is responding to a development that is putting digital platforms under increasing pressure. AI systems and bots are increasingly acting on behalf of real users and are becoming more difficult to distinguish from real people. Even at the startup base, we notice how big the shift is and how difficult it is to clearly distinguish real visitors from agents. The startup is therefore pursuing an approach that extends traditional verification methods such as simple SMS codes or CAPTCHAs. Instead of just performing individual checks, Prelude analyzes a variety of technical and behavioral signals such as device integrity, network data, behavioral patterns and mobile information in the background. According to founder Matias Berny, the aim is to be able to continuously check whether a legitimate user or a malicious bot is actually behind an interaction. New products expand the platform. Parallel to the financing round, Prelude is launching two new products on the market: "Prelude Auth" and the "Intel API". The startup is thus expanding its existing phone verification API into a comprehensive platform for digital trust and onboarding. The Auth solution is designed to enable companies to monitor user activities from registration to ongoing session management across the entire lifecycle. Abnormal behavior can be detected even after successful registration. The Intel API also provides network-based information such as SIM status, number reputation or connection quality in real time. This should enable companies to detect suspicious activities earlier without creating additional hurdles for real users. In addition, Prelude announced the "Watch API", a stand-alone anti-fraud product developed specifically to combat SMS fraud and automated attacks. Strong growth in sales and customer base. According to the company, Prelude has increased its turnover and number of customers six-fold within a year. Its customers include BeReal, Sunday, Suno and Voodoo. The platform is designed to help companies reduce fraud and improve conversion rates in onboarding at the same time. According to Prelude, customers can reduce their verification costs by more than 40 percent. Expansion of telco partnerships and AI models planned. The fresh capital will be used in particular to expand international telecommunications partnerships, extend network data coverage and further develop the company's own machine learning models. Prelude is also planning new hires in the areas of engineering, fraud prevention, customer success and telco partnerships. The company is thus positioning itself as an infrastructure provider for digital trust and identity verification at a time when AI-generated interactions and automated users are increasingly becoming standard on the internet.

Prelude raises $20 million. With new APIs for authentication and fraud prevention, Prelude wants to distinguish real users from bots and AI agents. News by Marc Nemitz · Paris, May 21, 2026 The startup Prelude has completed a Series A financing round of $20 million. The round was led by 20VC. Existing investors Singular, Seedcamp, Deel, and FDJ UNITED Ventures also participated. Overall, Prelude has raised $27 million to date. The company develops infrastructure for digital onboarding and trust management in the age of AI agents, bots, and automated user interactions. AI agents change digital identity verification. Prelude is responding to a development that is increasingly putting pressure on digital platforms. AI systems and bots are acting more and more frequently on behalf of real users and are becoming harder to distinguish from real people. Even on Startbase, we notice how big the shift is and how difficult it is to clearly separate real visitors from agents. Therefore, the startup is pursuing an approach that extends classic verification methods such as simple SMS codes or CAPTCHAs. Instead of performing only individual checks, Prelude analyzes a variety of technical and behavioral signals such as device integrity, network data, behavioral patterns, and cellular information in the background. According to founder Matias Berny, this is intended to continuously check whether an interaction is actually behind a legitimate user or a harmful bot. New products expand the platform. Parallel to the financing round, Prelude is launching two new products: "Prelude Auth" and the "Intel API." This expands the startup's previous phone verification API into a comprehensive platform for digital trust and onboarding. The Auth solution is intended to enable companies to monitor user activities from login to ongoing session management across the entire lifecycle. Suspicious behavior can thus be detected even after successful registration. The Intel API additionally provides network-based information such as SIM status, phone number reputation, or connection quality in real time. This allows companies to detect suspicious activities earlier without introducing additional hurdles for real users. Furthermore, Prelude announced an independent anti-fraud product with the "Watch API," which was specifically developed to combat SMS fraud and automated attacks. Strong revenue and customer growth. According to the company, Prelude has multiplied its revenue and customer base sixfold each within one year. Customers include BeReal, Sunday, Suno, and Voodoo. The platform is intended to help companies reduce fraud while improving conversion rates in onboarding. According to Prelude, customers can lower their verification costs by more than 40 percent. Expansion of telco partnerships and AI models planned. The fresh capital is expected to flow primarily into the expansion of international telecommunications partnerships, the expansion of network data coverage, and the further development of the company's own machine learning models. In addition, Prelude plans to hire in the areas of engineering, fraud prevention, customer success, and telco partnerships. This positions the company as an infrastructure provider for digital trust and identity verification in a time when AI-generated interactions and automated users are increasingly becoming the standard on the internet.