Smile ID surges past 150M identity verifications completed

Selfie biometrics provider Smile ID (formally Smile Identity) has achieved the completion of 150 million identity verifications – five months after announcing 100 million identity checks completed.

In a recent X post, the company says: “We’re accelerating at an unprecedented pace, thanks to our amazing customers, partners, and team. As we continue to innovate and expand, we remain committed to providing secure, reliable identity verification solutions across Africa and beyond.”

The company, headquartered in Lagos, attributes this milestone to the efforts of over 2,000 partners, including fintech firms, telecommunications companies, and government agencies, that utilize Smile ID’s biometric services. The company also announced recent updates to its software products, which includes a feature that introduces offline capabilities to users of android and iOS mobile operating systems.

The company also plans to launch a new face biometric authentication product called SmartSelfie Compare, with the goal of enabling businesses to combat fraud by comparing user selfies with on-file photos or government ID photos.

In a 2023 report, SmileID highlighted the increasing incidence of biometric fraud across the continent, noting that the crypto sector faces the highest rates of such fraud.

Smile ID’s technology includes selfie biometrics and liveness detection to verify identities for fraud protection and secure transactions.

Last year, Smile ID acquired Inclusive Innovations, the parent company of ID verification service Appruve.

In 2021, Smile ID secured $7 million in a series A funding round to further its goal of unifying Africa’s ID verification and KYC compliance infrastructure, in a bid to simplify the process for Africans to verify their identity online. The company has since garnered more than $30 million in funding.

Article Topics

biometric liveness detection  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  face biometrics  |  identity verification  |  selfie biometrics  |  Smile Identity