Nigerian firm specializing in identity verification and anti-money laundering solutions tailored for both banks and startups, Youverify, has successfully secured a $2.5 million investment from Elm, a leading provider of digital solutions serving public and private institutions in Saudi Arabia.
This pre-Series A investment not only infuses capital into Youverify but also establishes a strategic partnership aimed at enhancing AML compliance processes for businesses, strengthening global risk intelligence capabilities, and facilitating the expansion of Youverify’s product offerings into new markets.
Since its inception in 2018 by founder and CEO Gbenga Odegbami, Youverify has made significant strides in expanding its real-time business verification coverage, now spanning 145 jurisdictions across 48 countries. Additionally, the platform offers comprehensive coverage for real-time individual verification, encompassing credit history and national identity numbers, in 46 countries.
Odegbami shared during a call with TechCrunch that Youverify has surpassed its initial objectives set during its seed extension round in 2022, which aimed to expand coverage across 30 African countries.
Despite its ambitious expansion efforts, Youverify currently serves commercial customers in only 12 countries. Nevertheless, the company has experienced remarkable growth, processing 4 million monthly applications for over 3,500 businesses with 800 active clients across these countries.
This represents a significant increase from the 400 businesses and 5 million application processes per year recorded in 2022. Moreover, the platform’s capacity to verify IDs has expanded from 400 million to 5 billion individuals, along with 600 million businesses spanning various industries such as gaming, travel, healthcare, and telecommunications.
CEO Gbenga Odegbami highlights that Youverify’s approach goes beyond generic OCR-based KYC methods, instead leveraging established mathematical models and AI algorithms to assess and analyze risks. As a result, the platform is able to generate regulatory reports for submission to regulators across multiple countries. Competitors in this space include Smile Identity, Dojah, and Identitypass.
With the rapid growth of financial services across Africa, regulators are increasingly focused on combating identity theft and fraud. Reports indicate that digital payment transactions totaling $116 billion are expected this year alone, underscoring the need for stringent identity verification measures.
