Nigerian Know-Your-Customer (KYC) startup Youverify has raised a US$1.5 million seed funding round to help it improve its technology and accelerate business development at home and abroad.
Youverify aims to help financial services companies and mobile operators automate the verification processes of different types of data treated separately today, such as identity, academic background, home address, credit history and facial recognition.
Since its launch in Lagos in 2018, Youverify has already performed more than 300,000 customer registrations and verifications, and is now planning on growth both in Nigeria and across Africa after raising a US$1.5 million seed funding round.
The round was led by Orange Digital Ventures Africa (ODV), which counts Youverify as the fifth company to join its portfolio, and also includes Loftyinc Afropreneurs Fund, an early-stage investment fund.
“This constitutes a unique opportunity for us to take further our ambition to simplify and secure our client’s internal processes, whether in the recruitment of staff, or customer onboarding. Our ambition is to be the leading African player in verifying people and companies’ identities by making data protection and security the core of our proposal,” said Youverify co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Gbenga Odegbami.
“Matters of security and access to financial or telecommunications services should never be at odds with each other. Telecom operators like Orange are at the forefront of these transformational challenges. We are proud to support Youverify, which intends to resolve this triple objective of fostering financial inclusion, strengthening security and preserving user rights over their data,” said Grégoire de Padirac, investment manager at ODV.
