For years, websites have relied on technology like CAPTCHA to prove that the user on the other end is human. More recently, social media platforms have turned to photos or videos to verify users’ identities. Now, a startup called Helix is betting that voice technology can do the same job, without requiring users to hand over sensitive personal information.

The voice technology, which can run directly on a user’s device, has attracted backing from Siri co-founder Dag Kittlaus, who will also act as an advisor.

The company raised $6 million in funding in a round led by Chicago Ventures, with participation from BAM Ventures, Aglaé Ventures, Corazon Capital, Tusk Ventures, Yonder Ventures, Rule30, and Brown Alumni Group.

The startup was founded by Alex Oberg, Anna Dorofiyenko, and Mike Hall in 2025. Oberg previously worked at Ticketmaster, which acquired his startup; Dorofiyenko led data science teams at Live Nation and Zillow; and Hall has worked at Nike and Tinder, where he helped develop the initial matching algorithm.

At Ticketmaster, Oberg played a role in creating Verified Fan, which is designed to keep bots out of the platform. As AI advanced, he started thinking along the same lines for a new solution.

“As AI started to come up in the last two years, I was realizing that it’s going to make it increasingly difficult to determine who’s human and who’s not on the Internet. Identity on the Internet’s always been about proxies for identity, right? It’s your email, it’s your phone, it’s your IP address, it’s your device fingerprint, it’s your device ID,” Oberg said.

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