Digital Autonomy

In a world where digital identity is becoming increasingly important, it is crucial that citizens maintain control over their own data. Yivi is built from the conviction that digital autonomy is a fundamental right. This means that you - and only you - decide which personal data you share, with whom, and when.

Unlike many commercial identity solutions, Yivi is not dependent on foreign investors or tech giants. Yivi is and will remain in Dutch hands, with explicit contractual safeguards that prevent Yivi from ever being sold to parties that do not share our values of privacy and autonomy.

About Yivi

Yivi stands for ‘Your digital life’ and you pronounce it as Yivi.
There are two organisations behind Yivi that closely collaborate for Yivi adoption. The Privacy by Design Foundation owns the Yivi brand rights. The Dutch company Caesar Groep is responsible for the further development and management of Yivi. The cooperation guarantees, by contract, the privacy-friendly character of the Yivi app, the openness of its source code, the free use for end-users, and the proper, secure working.

The development of Yivi

The Yivi app is the successor to the IRMA app, the first privacy-friendly digital wallet based on personal attributes. IRMA (renamed to Yivi) was developed by Bart Jacobs with his team at Radboud University in Nijmegen. Jacobs is also chairman of the Privacy by Design Foundation. In 2019, collaboration with SIDN began, with SIDN taking over responsibility for managing IRMA’s backbone, to ensure the technology’s essential continuity and availability. Since the fall of 2024 the Dutch company Caesar Groep takes over from SIDN the further development and management of Yivi, in close cooperation with the Privacy by Design Foundation.

Our mission statement

Internet users are asked to share privacy-sensitive data too often and often share more information than necessary. This can and should be done differently. We believe that developing simple, privacy-friendly and secure solutions for online identification contributes to the protection of privacy and identity and optimal use of the Internet. And thus contribute to our mission for a promising and carefree digital existence for everyone.

Governance and Safeguards

Yivi is built with strong safeguards to guarantee digital autonomy and independence:

Ownership and trademark rights
The trademark rights of Yivi belong to the Privacy by Design Foundation, an independent Dutch non-profit foundation. The foundation has a contract with Caesar Groep to use the Yivi brand name for further development and management.

Dutch family business
Caesar Groep is a Dutch family business without stock market listing. This means there are no foreign shareholders who can influence the direction of Yivi. Unlike competitors such as Digidentity (in foreign hands) or iDIN (acquired by Belgian Itsme), Yivi remains fully under Dutch control.

Hosting in the Netherlands and the EU
All hosting takes place in the Netherlands and the EU, currently in Amsterdam at Scaleway and TransIP. Your data therefore remains under Dutch and European legislation.

Contractual safeguards
The contract between the foundation and Caesar stipulates that:

Yivi remains open source, privacy-friendly and well-secured
Caesar cannot sell or transfer Yivi activities to another party without the foundation’s consent
In case Caesar discontinues Yivi, all software, data and access rights fall back to the foundation, with a transition period to guarantee continuity

Fully Open Source

Yivi is fully open source software, licensed under the Apache 2.0 and GPL 3 licenses. This means that:

The source code is publicly available and can be reviewed by anyone
Security researchers can audit the code
The community can contribute to development
No hidden functionality or backdoors are possible
The technology is not dependent on a single party

View the source code on GitHub.

Information about Yivi as a Data Intermediation Service Provider

Legal Form of the Provider

Yivi is offered by Yivi B.V., a subsidiary of Caesar Groep Rotterdam B.V., in collaboration with Stichting Privacy by Design.

Chamber of Commerce Numbers

Stichting Privacy by Design is registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce under number: 67144128.
Yivi B.V. is registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce under number: 94861412.

Group Structure and Ownership

Stichting Privacy by Design is an independent non-profit foundation. It has no shareholders or parent companies. The foundation operates independently and aims to promote privacy-friendly identity and data exchange.

Yivi B.V. is a private limited company, based in and operating from Utrecht, registered with the Chamber of Commerce under number 94861412. It is a 100% subsidiary of Zonnebaan Investments B.V., which is in turn a 100% subsidiary of Caesar Groep Rotterdam B.V.

Description of the Data Intermediation Service

Yivi is a privacy-friendly identity and attribute verification service. Users can store personal data and attestations from trusted sources (such as government agencies or employers) on their smartphone and share them selectively with third parties. Yivi ensures that users retain full control over their data.

Type of Data Intermediation Service

Yivi qualifies as a personal information broker. It facilitates the secure and trustworthy exchange of personal data between individuals and organizations.