Truora’s $15M Series A, selfie biometrics for specific sectors highlight market growth areas

User authentication and onboarding with selfie biometrics continue to be rapidly adopted, but the twist offered by Columbian startup Truora is performing most of these processes through WhatsApp, which has received a major funding boost. Sector-specific regulations in the UK are driving more identity verification checks, and 1account sees that trend continuing, while Indonesia’s Privy reports dramatic growth, Socure and iDenfy announce customer wins, and Veriff upgrades its portfolio, including with a sector-specific solution.

Truora raises $15M

Truora has raised $15 million in Series A funding, with plans to expand its WhatsApp onboarding capabilities and reach more customers in Brazil, TechCrunch reports.

The investment was made at a $75 million valuation, according to the report.

Truora’s founder team includes two former engineers from digital communications platform Twilio, and its technology is offered on a software-as-a-service model. The software includes automated chatbots, face biometrics, document verification and database checks.

With the promise of more onboarding completions, Truora has reached 400 clients in nine countries across Latin America.

The company was named among WEF Technology Pioneers 2021 as a representative of Latin America.

The overall global digital identity verification market will grow from $10 billion this year to $40 billion by 2032, according to a forecast from Future Market Insights.

FMI pegs the market at $8.6 billion in 2021, and attributes the expected 14.8 percent CAGR during the forecast period in significant part to increasing acceptance of virtual (or remote) ID verification as an alternative to in-person or physical verification. The analysis says demand is actually down slightly from pre-pandemic years, due to overall business slow-downs.

UK regulations continue slow roll-out

The UK’s new ‘right to rent’ regulations brought in by the Home Office Code of Practice have come into force, The Negotiator reports, with a six month grace period. The change means that hard copies of biometric ID cards and other documents are no longer accepted for mandatory checks by rental agents.

Certified digital identity service providers (IDSPs), however, like Yoti and the Post Office, can perform the checks.

1account says that all comments submitted by participants to a consultation it ran on the UK government’s proposal for a single customer view for gamblers favored meeting the requirement with digital ID, the company tells Gambling News.

The company polled various stakeholders, including the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), and sees a similar path ahead for the gambling industry to other sectors in the nation.

Privy claims over 23M users

Indonesia-based e-signature provider Privy is taking an alternative approach to zero-knowledge proofs to authenticate transactions, instead working towards ‘verifying anything about anyone’ while maintaining user control according to a paid placement in DealStreetAsia.

The digital identity startup offers users a one-time registration and identity verification process, with Privy then issuing credentials to be used by the various organization the user interacts with. That initial process includes checks based on national ID and face biometrics. Multifactor authentication secures every use of personally identifying information.

Personal data breaches in Indonesia spiked by over 800 percent between 2016 and 2020, according to Privy CEO Marshall Pribadi. The company has grown to reach 23.5 million users, and recognition by 1,500 businesses. It also raised $17.5 million in a Series B funding round last year.

Customer wins for Socure, iDenfy

Blockchain-enabled collectors’ marketplace Dibbs has deployed identity verification with selfie biometrics from Socure to improve its customer onboarding experience.

Dibbs says it expects first-time deposits to rise by 20 percent due to the improved onboarding process with Socure’s ID+ platform, with customers verified in milliseconds, according to the announcement.

iDenfy is providing identity verification and digital signatures for legal documents to Notaries At Large. The deployment provides completed identity verification with iDenfy’s full-stack solution in less than a minute, according to the announcement.

Notaries At Large states that iDenfy’s biometric security and online ID validation allows it to move notarization services online.

Ecommerce payment solution provider Nikulipe has likewise selected iDenfy’s automated identity verification for easier customer onboarding.

“Our partnership with iDenfy will ensure that our clients will experience a hassle-free and safe verification solution,” says Nikulipes’s CEO, Frank Breuss. “At Nikulipe, we strive to provide the highest levels of AML and Terrorist Financing compliance measures to our clients and partners.”

Enhancements from Veriff

Veriff has upgraded its Face Match identity verification solution for fast user authentication against the company’s existing session data as it addresses market demand for strong customer authentication and continuous KYC.

The Face Match solution provides strong protection against account takeovers, Veriff says, and a secured tool for resetting credentials.

“For the past six years we’ve been working to build the most accurate verification service on the market,” comments Kaarel Kotkas, Veriff founder and CEO. “Now we are ready to launch a continuous authentication Face Match product that represents another step in the identity workflow. It enables biometrics to secure accounts throughout their whole lifetime making account takeover fraud history.”

The company has also launched digital identity verification solutions specifically tailored for human resources and recruiting firms. The new HR solution features selfie biometrics matching, automated data extraction, and global reach to reduce friction in hiring processes.

Article Topics

authentication  |  biometrics  |  Colombia  |  digital identity  |  document verification  |  face biometrics  |  funding  |  iDenfy  |  identity verification  |  KYC  |  onboarding  |  PrivyID  |  selfie biometrics  |  Socure  |  Veriff