Clear Secure, Inc. (‘CLEAR’) operates as a secure identity company making experiences safer and easier - both digitally and physically.
The company makes everyday experiences frictionless by connecting customer identity to all the things that make them. CLEAR has been delivering secure, frictionless experiences in airports for over 15 years, achieving exceptional user delight and trust with CLEAR Plus, its consumer aviation subscription service. CLEAR Plus enables access to predictable and fast...
Clear Secure, Inc. (‘CLEAR’) operates as a secure identity company making experiences safer and easier - both digitally and physically.
The company makes everyday experiences frictionless by connecting customer identity to all the things that make them. CLEAR has been delivering secure, frictionless experiences in airports for over 15 years, achieving exceptional user delight and trust with CLEAR Plus, its consumer aviation subscription service. CLEAR Plus enables access to predictable and fast experiences through dedicated entry lanes in airport security checkpoints nationwide. As it continues to innovate on the travel experience, the company is proud to offer TSA PreCheck Enrollment Provided by CLEAR – offering consumers increased choice in how and where to sign up for this popular trusted traveler program. The company’s free flagship CLEAR app offers several consumer products, including: Home to Gate, a feature to help travelers plan and time their trip to the airport; CLEAR Mobile, which delivers predictable airport security for travelers by accessing a dedicated lane at airport security, simply by showing a QR code, that is free to CLEAR Plus Members and available to all travelers by purchasing a day pass; Ambassador Assist, the company’s curb-to-gate service where its Ambassadors guide Members through the airport; and CLEAR Perks, its suite of benefits to help CLEAR Plus Members win every step of their travel journey. CLEAR1 (formerly CLEAR Verified), its business-to-business (‘B2B’) offering, is its secure identity platform that maximizes security and minimizes friction for partners and consumers. CLEAR1 enables the company’s partners to leverage its digital identity technology and embedded Member base to facilitate secure and frictionless experiences digitally and physically via its software development kits and application programming interfaces.
The company has been expanding its network, investing in its technology platform, strengthening its operations, and developing its team members to consistently deliver increased value to Members and partners, resulting in the growth and trust of CLEAR.
The company has built an extensive physical footprint with a nationwide network of airports and partners to offer Members frictionless, trusted experiences as they move and transact throughout the day in both physical and digital environments. As of December 31, 2024, the company’s expansive network of partners and use cases provided its Members with access to 165 CLEAR Plus Lanes across various airports nationwide, a few airports with Mobile Lanes, some airports and various retail locations with TSA PreCheck Enrollment Provided by CLEAR, various sports and entertainment venues with priority Lanes, and a growing list of B2B CLEAR1 partners. The continued expansion of the company’s capabilities enables its partners to integrate CLEAR1 solutions and give its Members new places and new ways to use CLEAR.
The company’s owned and operated business CLEAR Plus (its consumer aviation subscription service) is the largest user of its platform, followed by its CLEAR1 partners. It had enabled approximately 235 million Total Cumulative Platform Uses across its network of airport and CLEAR1 partners as of December 31, 2024. The company’s approximately 4,198 hospitality and security-focused part-time and full-time Ambassadors and field managers on the ground bring its technology to life in airports and work to deliver exceptional Member experiences every day.
At CLEAR, the company is obsessed with the Member experience. The company’s network, technology platform, operational expertise, and Ambassadors have helped build a trusted brand and a passionate Member base. The company’s Members know when they see the CLEAR brand to expect a frictionless, predictable, and secure experience. Similarly, the company’s partners trust CLEAR to enable them to deliver the same frictionless and secure experiences to their own customers.
The company’s business model is powered by network effects and characterized by efficient Member acquisition and maintaining strong retention rates. The company’s largest CLEAR Plus Member acquisition channel is in-airport (representing 64% of Member acquisitions for the years ended December 31, 2024), where its prominent branding and expansive physical footprint allow prospective Members to engage with CLEAR’s brand, Ambassadors, and technology firsthand.
The CLEAR Network
The company’s platform is multi-faceted and a powerful network of networks. It started in airports and witnessed accelerating Member growth in both new markets and existing markets as its network expanded. The company’s largest CLEAR Plus Member acquisition channel continues to be its in-airport channel. The ability to use CLEAR in more locations and in more ways increases its utility to its Members. The larger the company’s Member base becomes, the more valuable its platform becomes to its current and prospective partners who utilize its platform to better realize their business objectives. As a result, the company’s growth strategy is focused on simultaneously growing its CLEAR Members while continuing to add valuable partners to its network and expanding the functionality and availability of its platform.
The company’s Member base includes paying Members and platform Members. Paying Members subscribe to its annual CLEAR Plus consumer aviation subscription service, which enables access to predictable and frictionless experiences through dedicated entry Lanes in airport security checkpoints across the nation. The company’s business model is powered by network effects and characterized by efficient Member acquisition and strong retention rates. The company’s passionate Member base further drives word-of-mouth marketing.
Platform Members include Members who enrolled through its mobile app, its partners’ customers who have enrolled through its CLEAR1 solutions, and formerly paying CLEAR Plus Members. Platform Members use CLEAR for free while the company’s partners pay to use its technology solutions. Typically, new platform Members are driven to enroll by one of its partners who integrate with CLEAR to enable frictionless experiences for their customers.
CLEAR1 contract structures vary by use case, but are typically multi-year agreements that drive revenue through transaction fees (charged per use or per user) in addition to an annual platform fee.
The company has a robust pipeline of new CLEAR1 partners who increasingly recognize the need to deliver a fast, easy, and secure experience to their customers—a true frictionless journey. The company’s secure identity platform can power a wide range of use cases, such as customer check-in, account creation/KYC, account verification, age verification, and a suite of workforce products like employee onboarding, continuous verification, critical access control, and account recovery. These use cases can be applied across verticals, such as aviation and travel, healthcare, hospitality, consumer use cases, and financial services, among others.
Offerings
Secure Identity Platform
The company’s secure identity platform is multi-layered, consisting of both its front-end (including enrollment, verification, and linking) and its robust, secure, and scalable back-end to deliver a multilayered proofing stack for identity. To interact with the company’s platform, first-time users go through its fast, secure, and easy enrollment process. Once a Member is enrolled, each subsequent use of the platform to verify their identity is only a few simple steps. The company’s ‘enroll once, use everywhere’ approach benefits the entire CLEAR ecosystem by removing friction for Members and increasing conversion for partners.
CLEAR confirms identity on an opt-in basis using document authentication (e.g., driver’s license, passport), best-in-class biometric capture technology, liveness detection, and other anti-spoofing technologies, biometric matching, source corroboration, and other proprietary technologies to link an individual’s identity with their biometrics (e.g., face). Members can enroll in CLEAR in the manner which is most convenient for them: in-person enrollment Pods in airports, or their own personal mobile device. The company’s architecture is designed to be scalable without compromising Member experience or information security.
The company has a deep organizational commitment to preserving its Members’ privacy and ensuring Members have control of their personal information. It has a comprehensive information security program and a robust cybersecurity posture that uses industry best practices with administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect against anticipated threats or hazards to the security, confidentiality, or integrity of its platform’s systems and information. The company’s information security core tenets include the application of encryption at rest and in transit, firewalls, multi-factor authentication, specific role-based access control, physical and personnel security (including training), intrusion detection, and data loss prevention. The company has a commitment to Members being in control of their own information and it does not sell its Members’ data.
The company has been certified at the highest level of security by its government regulators. The Department of Homeland Security (‘DHS’) has certified the company’s information security program under their purview at a FISMA High Rating (the highest designation according to the Federal Information Security Modernization Act).
CLEAR Plus
CLEAR Plus is the company’s consumer aviation subscription service, which enables access to predictable and fast experiences through dedicated entry Lanes in airport security checkpoints across the nation, as well as access to its broader network. With CLEAR Plus, Members use its biometric technology to verify their identity and travel credentials. The company’s team of hospitality and security-focused Ambassadors help bring its technology to life by delivering a frictionless journey alongside excellent service in its Lanes. CLEAR Plus currently retails for $199 per year per Member and is billed upfront. The company offers free trials in-airport and online and promotional pricing to select partners, including Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and Hawaiian Airlines frequent fliers, as well as a family plan for up to three Members at an additional $119 per year per Member. Through the company’s partnership with American Express, eligible cardmembers receive statement credits for all or a portion of their CLEAR Plus membership. The company entered into its partnership with American Express in 2019. In March 2024, it renewed its partnership for the first of two one-year renewal terms through June 2025. The company also offers discounted military and government pricing, and children under 18 can use CLEAR Plus for free with an adult Member.
In 2024, the company launched its Lane of the Future - including its new EnVe (‘enrollment and verification’) hardware - to offer a face-first verification experience that is approximately 5x faster. The new EnVe Pods are powered by its NextGen Identity+, the highest fidelity identity at scale, and feature its most advanced camera and enhanced display.
The CLEAR Perks platform is the company’s new suite of added benefits that help CLEAR Plus Members get an even more seamless experience, home-to-gate. Through CLEAR Perks, the company partners with other brands and service providers to tailor additional offers for CLEAR Plus Members to help them win the day of travel. CLEAR Perks also include its own proprietary offerings, such as Ambassador Assist, its paid curb-to-gate service where its Ambassadors guide Members from arrival through airport security and all the way to their gate; CLEAR Scout, lost item recovery support; as well as other exclusive partner benefits and services.
TSA PreCheck Enrollment Provided by CLEAR
In February 2024, the company launched TSA PreCheck Enrollment Provided by CLEAR, which as of December 31, 2024, was available in various airports and multiple retail locations nationwide. The TSA PreCheck Enrollment Provided by CLEAR program represents a growing source of revenue. After a new TSA PreCheck customer is enrolled or renewed, the company offers the customer an opportunity to enroll in CLEAR Plus on an opt-in basis. The partnership does not extend to performing physical security screening, which continues to be operated by the TSA.
CLEAR Mobile
CLEAR Mobile offers a predictable airport security experience for travelers by accessing a dedicated lane at airport security, simply by showing a QR code in the CLEAR app, that is free to CLEAR Plus Members and available to all travelers by purchasing a day pass – valid for 24 hours. Live in a few airport locations, this allows the company to grow its footprint into smaller or regional airports to ensure it can deliver Members a better experience wherever they travel.
CLEAR1
CLEAR1 is the company’s B2B offering that extends its secure identity platform to partners to create frictionless experiences for their customers. The company’s SDKs and APIs enable its partners to quickly and seamlessly integrate directly with its platform. This structure allows the company to facilitate safer, faster, and more frictionless experiences for its partners’ customers, while enabling its partners to continue to control and manage the direct relationship with their customer under their own brand.
The company’s CLEAR1 partners are primarily from verticals where identity is critical, such as healthcare, financial services, travel and hospitality, workforce, and other consumer use cases. The company’s secure identity platform can power a wide range of use cases, such as customer check-in, account opening, KYC, age verification, and a suite of workforce products like employee onboarding, continuous verification, critical access control, and account recovery. As it continues to grow its partners and use cases, the company sees the increasing need for secure identity verification for partners to achieve business goals and create a more frictionless experience for their customers.
Mobile App
The company also engages with its Members via the flagship CLEAR mobile app. It's used to enroll new Members and improve the experience for existing Members. The app has several features, including:
Enroll in CLEAR and manage your membership—enrolling as a CLEAR Member is a quick and easy process that can be handled directly through the CLEAR app via facial biometric recognition technology and validating a government-issued identification. This one-time enrollment can be completed in minutes and gives Members access to the company’s platform offerings and an easy upgrade path to CLEAR Plus at its airport locations.
e-Passport—CLEAR Plus Members who have completed their NextGen Identity+ upgrade can add, store, and update their passport information directly into the CLEAR app, enabling them to get an even faster CLEAR Plus experience without having to go to an enrollment center or scan government-issued identification physically at a Pod, as well as a secure place to store and update their passport remotely and conveniently.
Home to Gate—Members can have a predictable day-of-travel experience by inputting their flight number to access helpful information to assist their journey from the time they leave their home until they board the plane. Home to Gate integrates flight departure times, traffic data, security screening, gate number, and terminal walking times to their exact gate. The company’s integration with Uber allows customers to book a car to depart at the right time for a seamless travel journey.
Fast Access—Members enjoy touchless access to select partner services and venues.
Growth Strategies
The key elements of the company’s growth strategy include: Grow CLEAR Plus Members and grow revenue per CLEAR Plus Member; Scale TSA PreCheck enrollment program; Expand the company’s partnerships and distribution channels; Expand into new verticals and products; and Acquisitions and corporate development opportunities.
Intellectual Property and Other Proprietary Rights
As of December 31, 2024, the company had 107 issued United States patents (with four additional patent applications allowed) and 37 patent applications pending in the United States relating to certain aspects of its technology. The company also has a limited number of patents issued and patent applications filed in other countries. The company’s issued patents expire between 2032 and 2042. As of December 31, 2024, the company had seven U.S. registered trademarks, and three trademark applications pending in the United States. These include registrations for the CLEAR name and other brand indicia. The company also has registered the domain name www.clearme.com, and similar variations.
Government Regulation
As the company expands in Europe, it is subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’). GDPR took effect in May 2018 and includes operational requirements for companies that are established in the European Economic Area (‘EEA’) or process personal data of individuals located in the EEA. These requirements govern the processing of personal data and include significant penalties for non-compliance. Additionally, the United Kingdom has transposed GDPR into domestic law with a United Kingdom version of GDPR (combining GDPR and the Data Protection Act of 2018) that took effect in January 2021, which exposes the company to two parallel regimes, each of which authorizes similar fines and other potentially divergent enforcement actions for certain violations. In 2022, an Executive Order was signed that, together with regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Justice, implements a new data privacy framework for cross-border transfers of EU personal data to the United States (the ‘EU-U.S. DPF’). The company has voluntarily self-certified to the EU-U.S. DPF framework, entitling it to certain benefits under the program, as well as subjecting it to enforcement of its compliance with the EU-U.S. DPF principles under U.S. law.
The company is subject to various reporting requirements, audits, reviews, and evaluations overseen by the TSA, a sub-agency of the DHS. The DHS has certified the company’s information security program under their purview at a FISMA High Rating (the highest designation according to the Federal Information Security Modernization Act). In addition, the system the company uses for the RT Program and similar programs has been certified by the DHS as a Qualified Anti-Terrorism Technology under the SAFETY Act.
History
Clear Secure, Inc. was founded in 2010. The company was incorporated as a Delaware corporation in 2021.
