The UK’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) – its Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA) – published the interim findings of research into the state of the digital identity sector as of 2024.
Among other results, the analysis revealed that in the last decade, the companies involved in the digital identity market managed to raise $1 billion ($185.8 million in 2023 alone), with 2023-24 fiscal annual revenue reaching US$2.5 billion.
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In producing the report, OfDIA enlisted the US consultancy Oliver Wyman, Belfast-based Perspective Economics, and UK’s Projects by IF, with the aim of establishing the current size of the UK’s digital ID market and the way it is likely to develop – money-wise, the forecast is that it will reach $5 billion in revenue over the next five years.
As for where the investments are going to, the current tally is 270 companies involved in either creating and managing digital identity (70 percent, or 231 companies), or verification of identity or attributes. They employed nearly 11,000 “full time equivalent” workers.
Neither the UK nor the rest of Europe has managed to make any mark in the general tech market where innovation and competition is concerned, but when it comes to digital identity, OfDIA sees it as a strong sector, with both economic contribution and growth described as “significant.”
The distribution of these companies is not very diversified – half are located in London, with another 15% elsewhere in the south-east of the country and a majority fall in the small and medium (SME) category with up to 250 employees.
About three-quarters (74%) are headquartered in the UK; the rest are mostly in the US, the interim report revealed.
As for what they do – and are expected to grow their business doing – document verification is currently the main focus with 54% of services engaged in this, along with identity management (51%). Digital signatures, seals, and certificates account for 34%.
These companies serve financial services (85% of providers), health and public (58%), and tech sectors (57%).
The digital identity sector in the UK has grown close to 12% over the past five years, and comes to gross-value-added-per-employee figure that is some “42% higher than average UK employee estimates,” the interim report said.
