Nigerian digital identity startup Seamfix plans to expand operations to Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Ethiopia and Uganda in the near future after securing investment.
Founded by Chimezie Emewulu and Chibuzor Onwurah, Seamfix provides identity management, data capture and process automation solutions for large businesses and government agencies across the world.
“By leveraging technology to make digital identity easy, Seamfix helps thousands of businesses around the world offer better services to millions of end customers,” Emewulu told Disrupt Africa.
“From financial participation and efficiency in government services to public health and job creation, digital ID and verification systems are a fundamental driver of economic growth on the continent, and Seamfix has been at the forefront of delivering cutting-edge end-to-end digital ID and credentials solutions for connecting businesses and individuals to the disparate identity databases in Africa and across the world.
The company has delivered a wide range of solutions for organisations such as Veremark, Nigeria’s National Identity Management Commission [NIMC], MTN, Glo, Airtel 9 Mobile, United Bank for Africa, Interswitch, and Union Bank, enabling them and their customers globally to seamlessly create, verify and access trusted digital identities and services.
Yet at the time of its launch in 2007, Emewulu and Onwurah, who initially crossed paths as students at the University of Nigeria, Seamfix was focused on building custom products that digitised the workflow of organisations. It wasn’t until 2010 that it pivoted to building identity management solutions.
“A client project, which involved building a university ID impersonation solution, made us realise the identity problem on the continent,” said Emewulu.
Digital identity remains an issue in Africa, with over 542 million people without identity cards. This means digital ID and verification systems are crucial to unlocking significant economic value across Africa’s growing and increasingly digital societies.
“A recent report suggests that African countries that implement effective digital ID systems can boost their GDP by up to 13 per cent. Our goal is to provide a central hub for identity management in Africa to power trade within the region and with Africans. Using it, governments, corporate organisations, and individuals can verify the identities of entities it transacts with,” Emewulu said.
Seamfix’s key achievements include the successful development of a digital solution enabling widespread access to National Identification Numbers (NINs) for more than 100 million Nigerians, while it has also helped Nigerian telecommunications services providers to register and verify a database of over 200 million Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs) to comply with Nigerian Communications Commissions regulations.
“We currently work with major telcos across Africa on SIM registration, verification and linkage to national identities. Thousands of fintechs and SMEs rely on Seamfix’s verification APIs for KYC checks during customer onboarding and employee background checks,” said Emewulu.
Now, the company is set for further growth, after securing a US$4.5 million round of funding from Alitheia IDF, a gender lens investing fund. Emewulu said the capital would be used to scale the technology infrastructure that underpins Seamfix’s solutions, improve data flow crucial for continental trade and integration, and kickstart the expansion of its digital ID and credential services into five new African countries.
“The new funding represents our first institutional investment and it will enable us to expand our services to Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Ethiopia and Uganda,” he said.
Seamfix generates revenue through multiple streams, primarily by offering its identity solution to organisations.
“This includes charging customers for identity verification services, selling yearly licences to organisations seeking access to our extensive database of identities, and monetising API calls. We have processed over 500 million identities to date,” Emewulu said.
