In Africa, a lot of people do not have a local identity to pass Know Your Customer (KYC). The World Bank estimates that 57% of Africans still don’t have a bank account of any type, including a mobile money account, as Africa accounts for half of the people in the world that have no means of identification.
Outside of account opening for financial services, there is an exponential market opportunity that requires consumer identification. Some of them are to report suspicious transactions, mitigate fraud, meet regulatory requirements and capture IP addresses and geolocation.
Digital identities are fundamental to the evolution of digital technology, so Africa needs a digital identity infrastructure supporting our ongoing transition to the digital economy.
Here are leading Nigerian tech startups transforming the KYC landscape: Smile ID, IdentityPass, Youverify, Verifyme and Dojah.
Smile ID
Formerly known as the Smile Identity, Smile ID allows you to remotely verify IDs in seconds while staying compliant and preventing fraud at scale.
Some of the solutions offered by Smile ID include document verification, AML Check, government check, biometric authentication, business verification, fraud prevention, bank account verification, and phone number verification.
The Nigerian based startup was founded in 2017 by Mark Straub and William Bares. Smile ID has raised a total funding of $31.1M over 5 rounds since inception.
IdentityPass
The company ensures that users’ or businesses’ identities are secured from incidence of ID thefts and also helps the brands improve their customer onboarding (sign-up and verification) processes.
The Nigerian startup, serves brands in FinTech, Insurance, Mobility, E-commerce, HR management, Cryptocurrency and other sectors. Currently, IdentityPass is live in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa.
The company was founded in 2021 by Lanre Ogungbe, Niyi Adegboye and Tolu Adetuyi and is based in Lagos, Nigeria. Since launch, IdentityPass has raised $3.1 million in funding.
Youverify
Youverify is an Identity verification and Data management startup that helps businesses automate compliance decisions through KYC and AML solutions, helping them to onboard customers, employees and partners, and fight fraud using data
The solutions offered by the startup include identity verification, address verification, background checks, know your customers, know your business, know your employees, know your transactions, workflow automation, fraud detection, and transaction monitoring.
Youverify was co-founded in 2017 by Gbenga Odegbami and Suru Avoseh in Lagos. Since it launched, the startup has raised $2.5 million in funding.
Dojah
Dojah helps businesses verify identity, beat fraud, stay compliant and onboard customers safely. The Nigerian startup provides API tools for user onboarding, identity verification, KYC tools and bulk messaging.
Some of the YC backed startup solutions include government ID verification, document verification, biometric verification, address verification, financial connection, IP & device check, email check, phone number check, liveness check, AML watchlist, financial data widget, identity verification widget and easy lookup.
Dojah was founded in Lagos in September 2021 by Ayomide Oso and Tobi Ololade. The startup has raised about $1.3 million in funding since it has begun.
Verifyme
Verifyme allows businesses to identify, confirm, verify, and aggregate identities using technology that compares ID documents and biometrics with information from national databases. The startup speeds up the onboarding process while also ensuring Know-Your-Customer and Know-Your-Employee compliance.
Some of the solutions offered by the Lagos-based startup include identity verification, address verification, employee & staff verification, enrolment services, and guarantor verification.
Verifyme was founded in 2013 by Olutunji Oluwole as a biometric enrolment and data capture provider but obtained an identity verification licence in 2017. The startup, which is currently led by Esigie Aguele, has raised a total of $5 million in funding.
