A buyout, private investment and geo expansion for biometric KYC firms

It has been a week of strategy for biometric KYC vendors.

First, Japanese eKYC vendor Liquid Inc said it is moving farther into Southeast Asia without commenting on how much the move will cost. And executives at infrastructure company M2P Fintech said they are buying ID-validation startup Syntizen.

Finally, Irish identity startup Valid8Me said they had gotten a private infusion of €12.5 million ($12.77 million) from Grant Thornton Ireland part of the well-known professional services company.

Parent Grant Thornton does not make many investments at all, much less outside of tax and advisory sectors.

Valid8Me software enables customers to share, store and manage know-your-customer data. The company will use the money to double the size of its staff and fill out its product platform.

M2P, on the other hand, chose to buyout its target investment, Synitzen, according to Indian business publication Moneycontrol. Synitzen, also based in India, is a digital ID validation firm with KYC services that M2P coveted.

Citing anonymous sources, the publication says the deal is valued at $10 million to $12 million.

Meanwhile, Liquid Inc is sinking money into geographical expansion. The company is based in Japan.

Liquid Inc executives say they are partnering with Sakura Guild Games to win toeholds in the region, which can be difficult to do, given some nations’ fences designed to repel outside businesses.

Their opportunity is Web3, which is making it more important to identify consumers of games, for example. They have said their verification is effective but creates less friction for people signing into services.

Article Topics

acquisitions  |  AML  |  biometrics  |  funding  |  identity verification  |  KYC  |  Liquid Inc  |  onboarding  |  selfie biometrics  |  Syntizen