Prelude

What Prelude does

Prelude is a Paris-based, venture-backed private company founded in 2023 (rebranded from Ding in May 2024) that provides trust infrastructure for digital user onboarding. Its platform unifies phone and email verification (Verify), pre-send fraud detection (Watch), persistent authentication (Auth), carrier-grade number intelligence (Intel), and transactional messaging (Notify) into a single API surface, combining device, network, and behavioral signals into real-time trust scoring. Underlying technology includes intelligent multi-routing across 30+ SMS carriers and 7 messaging channels (SMS, WhatsApp, RCS, Voice, Telegram, Viber, Zalo) covering 230+ regions, plus a newly launched Silent Network Authentication capability that performs carrier-level number verification without OTP entry.\n\nThe company serves primarily fintech and consumer app segments (dating, social, gaming, food tech, mobility), with secondary penetration into SaaS and emerging AI-agent use cases. Customers include BeReal, Suno, Tipalti, PayFit, Voodoo, Bitstack, OneSafe, and approximately 15+ other named logos. Revenue is generated through a pay-as-you-go usage model (per-verification fees plus a per-message service license with no markup on carrier pass-through costs) plus tiered subscription plans (Startup plan from €100/month, custom Enterprise plans with post-paid invoicing). The company has raised $27 million in total funding across a November 2024 seed round and a May 2026 Series A led by 20VC, reported 6x revenue growth and 6x customer base growth over the past year, and operates with 11-50 employees headquartered in Paris with global reach.\n\nPrelude is differentiated by a fraud-first architecture that blocks abuse before messages are sent (reducing reported 99% of fraud in customer case studies), SOC 2 Type II and ISO/IEC 27001 certifications, and GDPR-ready European hosting. Go-to-market is API-first and product-led, with self-serve signup, a free tier of 5,000 verifications, transparent pricing dashboards, and a content marketing engine targeting developer and engineering audiences in competition with Twilio and Firebase.

Name

Prelude

Legal name

Prelude

Website

https://prelude.so

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Prelude is a Paris-based trust infrastructure company that provides unified SMS verification, pre-send fraud detection, authentication, and number intelligence APIs for fintech, consumer apps, gaming, and mobility platforms. Its multi-carrier platform verifies 100M+ user accounts across 230+ regions via a single API.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Identity Verification APIs

NAICS

Custom Computer Programming Services (541511), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming Services (7371), Telegraph & Other Message Communications (4822)

akta.pro primary industry

Voice Security, Fraud Prevention & Authentication (STIR/SHAKEN, anti-spam) (HDAIAHAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Risk, Fraud & 3DS Orchestration for Payments (FSAGABAL)

Keywords

• SMS verification API
• OTP authentication
• Phone verification platform
• Onboarding fraud detection
• Multi-channel messaging API

Headquarters

HQ city

Paris

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. SMS & Multi-Channel Verification API (Pay-as-you-go): Customers pay per verification/OTP message sent, with a service license fee per message on top of transparent carrier pass-through costs. No markup on carrier fees. Supports 230+ countries with pricing varying by destination and channel.
2. Startup Plan (Tiered Subscription): Startup plan starts at €100/month and includes 5,000 verifications with lower per-unit pricing as volume scales. Includes access to the full API, dashboard, and Slack support.
3. Enterprise Plan (Custom Post-Paid): Custom plans for high-volume customers with discounted per-SMS API fees, custom volume tiers, optional SLA guarantees, dedicated support, and monthly invoicing.
4. Notify API (Transactional SMS): Separate transactional SMS API for automated messages (confirmations, alerts, notifications) using the same routing infrastructure as Verify, with usage-based pricing per message sent.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Prelude provides a unified API platform for phone and email OTP verification, multi-factor authentication, and pre-send fraud detection, built on a multi-carrier messaging routing engine spanning 30+ providers and seven channels (SMS, WhatsApp, RCS, Voice, Telegram, Viber, Zalo) across 230+ regions. The platform combines device, network, carrier, and behavioral signals into a real-time trust scoring engine that blocks fake accounts, bots, and SMS pumping fraud before messages are sent and costs are incurred. It sells to developers and product teams via self-serve API keys and sales-assisted enterprise contracts, priced on a transparent per-message carrier pass-through plus service license fee, with tiered Startup and Enterprise subscription plans.

Product overview

Prelude is a trust infrastructure company for digital onboarding, offering a platform of five interconnected products designed to work together as a unified system. The core offering centers on the Verify API for phone and email OTP verification across multiple channels (SMS, WhatsApp, RCS, Voice, Telegram, Viber, Zalo, Email, Silent Network Authentication), supported by the Watch API for pre-send fraud detection, the Auth API for full authentication lifecycle management, the Intel API for carrier-grade number intelligence, and the Notify API for transactional messaging. The platform unifies device, network, and signup signals into a single onboarding decision engine, protecting conversion while blocking fraud from acquisition through retention. Businesses typically achieve 20-30% increase in conversion and 30-40% cost savings compared to previous providers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Prelude Auth: Full authentication stack with persistent trust covering signup, login, social, and password authentication in one API.
• Intel API
• Watch API
• Verify
• Notify

Products and services

• Verify API Phone and email OTP verification API delivering one-time passcodes across SMS, WhatsApp, RCS, Voice, Telegram, Viber, Zalo, and Email with intelligent multi-routing to 30+ providers in 230+ countries. Includes pre-send fraud detection via Watch API integration, automatic channel fallback, and a 95% verification success rate for developers and product teams at consumer apps, fintechs, and growth-stage companies.
• Watch API Pre-KYC risk scoring API that extracts fraud signals from device, network, and behavioral patterns to score every verification request before routing. Blocks suspected SMS pumping, fake account creation, bots, and scalper activity before messages are sent and costs are incurred, with the ability to block up to 90% of bots and fake accounts in high-risk countries. Sold as a standalone product to developers and fraud teams.
• Auth API Full authentication stack providing persistent trust across signup, login, social, and password management in a single API. Tracks active sessions, enables instant access revocation, and runs continuous trust checks throughout the user lifecycle, catching users who pass verification at signup but later behave like bots. Built for product and engineering teams needing continuous authentication rather than point-in-time OTP checks.
• Intel API Carrier-grade number intelligence API that queries SIM status, number reputation, line type, portability, and connection quality in real time directly from carrier networks. Adds a network-level trust layer that requires no user action, closing the gap between user claims and what the device and network actually reveal, and combines with Verify and Auth for comprehensive onboarding trust. Sold as a standalone offering for fraud, risk, and onboarding teams.
• Notify API Transactional SMS API for automated order confirmations, delivery updates, payment notifications, and security alerts, operating on the same messaging rails as Verify API. Delivers 98%+ delivery rates through direct carrier connections with REST API dispatch, real-time delivery receipts (DLRs), and adaptive routing. Priced per message sent and sold to product and operations teams at consumer apps, fintechs, and e-commerce platforms.
• Silent Network Authentication (SNA) Carrier-based phone number verification method that performs a near-instant network-level check to authenticate a phone number without requiring the user to enter an OTP, with automatic fallback to SMS or WhatsApp if SNA is unavailable. Available in France, Germany, Spain, and the UK at €0.025 per verification, priced below equivalent SMS OTP in supported regions. Sold to regulated, high-value industries including financial services to address OTP friction, security vulnerabilities, and cost inefficiencies.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduces SMS verification costs by 30-40% vs. legacy providers
• +8 more outcomes

Named customers20 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability5 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Telecom Carriers (30+ global and local providers)coreTechnology or Integration · 20 May 2026Prelude has partnerships with over 30 international and local SMS carriers and telecom providers, enabling intelligent multi-routing across 230+ regions. These carrier relationships are the infrastructure backbone of Prelude's service.
• Meta (WhatsApp Business Solution Provider)coreTechnology or Integration · 5 February 2026Prelude is a Meta-vetted WhatsApp Business Solution Provider (BSP), enabling businesses to access the WhatsApp Business API through Prelude's platform for OTP and transactional messaging with onboarding, compliance, and analytics tooling.

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights8 records

Direct peers

• Twilio: The dominant global CPaaS provider offering Verify API for SMS OTP verification across many countries. Prelude explicitly positions itself as a developer-first, fraud-aware Twilio alternative with transparent pricing and multi-routing optimization.
• Sinch: Global CPaaS competitor offering SMS verification, WhatsApp Business, and messaging APIs across 200+ countries. Comparable in scale, geographic coverage, and channel breadth to Prelude's multi-channel verification stack.
• MessageBird (Bird): European-headquartered omnichannel CPaaS competitor offering SMS, WhatsApp, and OTP verification APIs with similar multi-channel routing and direct carrier relationships. Directly competes with Prelude across the same geographies and verticals.
• Infobip: Global CPaaS platform providing SMS, WhatsApp, Viber, and RCS verification with carrier-grade routing. Closely comparable in channel breadth, fraud-prevention emphasis, and enterprise go-to-market.
• Plivo: Cloud communications platform offering SMS APIs and OTP verification with competitive pricing and direct carrier routes. Targets a similar developer audience and competes on cost and reliability like Prelude.
• Telesign: Verification and fraud-prevention specialist offering SMS/voice OTP, risk scoring, and number intelligence. Closely comparable to Prelude's combined Verify + Watch + Intel positioning and overlapping customer base.
• Bandwidth: Communications platform providing carrier-grade SMS, voice, and verification APIs with its own network infrastructure. Comparable in messaging reliability claims and direct-carrier economics, particularly in North America.
• Prove (formerly Payfone): Digital identity and phone-number verification specialist offering carrier-grade signals similar to Prelude's Intel API. Highly comparable on the phone-intelligence and pre-send fraud risk-scoring layer of the stack.

Broad incumbents

• Vonage (Ericsson): Now part of Ericsson, Vonage offers the Verify API for SMS/voice OTP at global scale. Sits in Prelude's competitive set as a larger, broader incumbent offering verification as one part of a much wider communications portfolio.

Emerging players

• Stytch: Developer-focused authentication and verification platform offering SMS OTP alongside passkeys, OAuth, and passwordless flows. Adjacent competitor for developers choosing between SMS-centric and passwordless-first onboarding stacks.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/useprelude
• Xx.com/UsePrelude

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors6 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Prelude