Identitypass raises USD 2.8 mln seed funding

Mobile penetration in Africa is growing at about 46% as more people come online for the very first time. In turn, this has increased the market opportunity for startups, fintechs, and ecommerce, which try to provide various solutions to meet the financial needs of the populace, according to the press release.

To do that, these businesses must carry out certain identity verifications and KYC to combat fraud, among other things. Many platforms power these KYC processes, and one of them, Identitypass, is announcing that it has raised USD2.8 million in seed funding. The round also comes a few months after the startup raised USD 360,000 in pre-seed investment in November 2021, bringing its total funding to USD 3.1 million.

Identitypass approached various agencies and authorities in Nigeria to get licenses and certifications needed for authorising checks across a full spectrum of verification points. It launched with one data point in January 2020. Recently, 200 active businesses across fintech, ecommerce, education, and mobility connect to 18 data points to verify their customers’ identities on the platform. These businesses are based in Nigeria, the UK, Kenya, the US, and India.

The company has processed more than 1 million unique verifications since launch. These end points are government-approved IDs, such as national IDs, driver licenses, international passports, bank verification numbers (BVN), phone numbers, vehicle plate numbers, debit cards, security watchlists, and tax history. Depending on the number of end points a business connects to, the identity and verification platform charges between USD 10 cents to USD 20 cents on every verification it executes.

Identitypass also launched a SaaS platform in addition to its APIs. Officials said this new offering, software rather than a plug-and-play solution, gives Identitypass an advantage over identical players in the market, such as fellow YC-batchmate Dojah and older startup Smile Identity.