# Rick Song

> Rick Song is the Co-Founder and CEO of Persona, the identity verification platform trusted by OpenAI, Instacart, LinkedIn, and 3,000+ others. A self-described reluctant founder, he left Square in 2018 after five years working on fraud and identity products, convinced there was a better way to build identity infrastructure. By 2025, Persona had completed 300+ million verifications, crossed $100M ARR, raised a $200M Series D at a $2B valuation, and was named a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader for Identity Verification for the second consecutive year.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Persona
- **Organizations:** Persona, Square, Kleiner Perkins (KPCB Fellow)
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** High School, Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science (TAMS), Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, and Economics, Rice University, KPCB Engineering Fellow, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
- **Known for:** Co-founded Persona in 2018, scaling to $2B valuation by 2025, Led Persona to $100M+ Annual Recurring Revenue, 300+ million identity verifications completed on Persona's platform

## Career timeline

- **2012** — KPCB Engineering Fellow at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
- **2012** — Summer internship where he met future co-founder Charles Yeh (later roommates)
- **2013** — Graduated Rice University with BS in Computer Science, Mathematics, and Economics
- **2013** — Joined Square as engineer working on fraud, underwriting, and identity products
- **2018** — Left Square after ~5 years; co-founded Persona with Charles Yeh
- **2021** — Persona raises Series B funding
- **2022** — Persona raises Series C funding; expands to KYB and international verification
- **2024** — Persona surpasses 300 million verifications; crosses $100M ARR
- **2024** — Detected 75+ million AI-driven face spoof attempts
- **2025** — Persona named Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader for Identity Verification (second consecutive year)
- **2025** — Raised $200M Series D at $2B valuation, led by Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital (April 2025)

## Achievements

- Co-founded Persona in 2018, scaling to $2B valuation by 2025
- Led Persona to $100M+ Annual Recurring Revenue
- 300+ million identity verifications completed on Persona's platform
- 75+ million AI-driven face spoof attempts detected and blocked
- 3,000+ customers including OpenAI, Instacart, LinkedIn, Etsy, Twilio, Block, Robinhood, Brex, Gusto
- Raised $200M Series D led by Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital at $2B valuation (April 2025)
- Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader for Identity Verification - highest for Ability to Execute, second consecutive year (2025)
- KPCB Engineering Fellow (Kleiner Perkins) in 2012
- Built fraud and identity products at Square for five years before founding Persona

## Latest updates

- **2025-04** — Persona raises $200M Series D at $2B valuation, led by Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital, to build identity infrastructure for agentic AI
- **2025-01** — Persona named Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader for Identity Verification for the second consecutive year, highest for Ability to Execute
- **2024-12** — Persona surpasses 300 million total verifications and crosses $100M ARR milestone
- **2026-02** — Rick Song publicly defends his faceless LinkedIn profile as debate goes viral on X

## Links

- Website: https://withpersona.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-song-25198b24
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/rickcsong
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/withpersona

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/rick-song
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-23