Prove lacks document verification

The strategic issue is that OTP proves control of a phone, while high risk onboarding often requires proving that a real person matches a real government ID. Prove is strongest when a bank or merchant wants fast sign up, autofill, and step up authentication from phone and device data. But for workflows like new account opening, tax access, benefits claims, and other regulated checks, competitors can ask for an ID image and selfie in the same flow, which gives them a stronger position in higher assurance use cases.

• Prove's core products center on phone linked identity data, Pre Fill, CRM enrichment, OTP, push, and newer passive authentication. That works well for reducing form fill and authenticating returning users, but it is a different workflow from capturing a driver's license, extracting fields, checking tampering, and matching a face to the document photo.
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• Document first vendors sell into higher friction moments because they can gather stronger evidence in one session. ID.me's self service flow uses document upload plus a video selfie, and can escalate to video review. Socure sells document verification with liveness as a core product. This is the stack buyers reach for when fraud losses or compliance burden justify extra user effort.
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• The market is converging toward platforms that can start with one check and add more as risk rises. MetaMap expands from document verification and liveness into AML, government checks, financial data, and reauthentication inside one workflow. Alloy positions document vendors like Jumio and Onfido as core inputs into a broader decision engine for banks and fintechs.
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The likely direction is a split identity stack. Prove can keep winning low friction sign up, returning user recognition, and mobile first authentication, especially as it pushes passive authentication globally. The highest value transactions will increasingly favor vendors that combine phone, device, document, biometric, and policy checks in one flow, which makes document capabilities an important long term expansion area for the category.