Startup Youverify in Nigeria earned US $1 million in seed extension investment, bringing the total amount of the round to US $2.5 million.
Youverify was established in 2018 with the goal of assisting financial services firms and mobile carriers to simplify the verification procedures for many types of data now handled individually, such as identification, academic background, residential address, credit history, and face recognition.
Youverify’s income and application processes have increased by over 1,000% in the past 24 months, going from 14 customers to more than 400 institutions and high-growth businesses. The business handled more than five million applications over the same time frame to assist its clients in recruiting employees, making financial sales, and remotely onboarding ride-hailing drivers.
The business, which obtained a US $1.5 million seed round in 2020, has now been granted a US $1 million extension. With participation from Octerra Capital, Plug & Play Ventures, Syntax Ventures, HTTP Investors, Afer Group, and Fronesyz Capital, the round was co-led by Orange Ventures and LoftyInc Capital Management.
With the money, Youverify will expand into new areas and sectors, accelerating its growth objectives. In the past few months, the business has grown in Ghana, the Ivory Coast, South Africa, Kenya, and Uganda. Over the next 18 months, it intends to cover 30 nations, bringing the total number of IDs it can check from 400 million to two billion.
The business will also create brand-new automated compliance tools for the gambling, travel, healthcare, and telecoms sectors.
“We have seen the huge potential in the fragmented regtech market across Africa. We’re kicking off plans to plug in the gaps by expanding our marketplace to emerging and existing startups and traditional financial services companies across the continent. Our unique approach to providing compliance solutions gives us a strategic advantage due to our enterprise platform that goes the extra mile by helping businesses automate compliance workflow beyond basic identity verification,” said Dr Gbenga Odegbami, Youverify CEO and co-founder.
“The number of financial service companies and platforms that are embedding financial services into their products will continue to grow in sub-Saharan Africa. All those companies will need to onboard customers and go through KYC, and AML processes using a flexible solution such as Youverify. What is at stake now is to go beyond Nigeria. I am happy to see new investors joining the journey and proud to support this team since their seed round,” said Gregoire de Padirac, Orange Ventures principal.
