Cognito, a technology company creating frictionless, modern identity verification, which started in Palo Alto, California in 2014, has chosen to relocate their headquarters to Sisters. The company provides identity verification and security compliance solutions to fast-growing businesses and financial services firms.
Co-founder and CEO Alain Meier helped launch the Stanford Bitcoin Group while studying at Stanford University, where he recognized the need for more advanced anti-fraud and compliance tools for businesses. During that process he joined Y Combinator, a Silicon Valley-based seed money startup accelerator that has helped more than 2000 companies launch since 2005.
While in Y Combinator, they began supporting companies like Brex, Coinbase, Current and Nextdoor, helping them to scale onboarding while satisfying regulatory compliance requirements. Today, Cognito has over 500 clients, representing over 100 million individuals through its platform. They continue to carve a niche in the financial services industry as a fintech leader.
The company expects to gradually grow its headcount in Sisters, however, like many tech companies in the COVID era, most of its employees are working remotely. Three of the firm’s current team of eleven are in the greater Sisters area. They are also actively looking for local talent for two open positions. Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO) is working with the company to help facilitate its growth in the region.
Co-Founder and CEO Meier said: “We chose Sisters for our new headquarters in part due to the unpublicized, growing high-tech knowledge employment base that the community possesses. Cognito saw the need to grow in a location where we can hire incredible talent that have a variety of different interests and backgrounds.”
Sisters has been in the news this past year with other notable young companies progressing with rapid growth, including the recent IPO of Laird Superfood, which rang into the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on September 23, 2020.
