Contactable secures $13.5M to scale up digital ID offering across Africa

South African integrated identity platform Contactable says it has raised $13.5 million in financing to expand its onboarding and digital KYC offering as well as its new technologies to more markets across the African continent.

The Centurion-based digital ID and eKYC provider said in an announcement posted on its LinkedIn account that the funds were raised in a round led by Venture Capitalworks, together with co-investors such as Fireball Capital, Ke Nako Capital and Mavovo.

With the new funding, Contactable hopes to further contribute in strengthening Africa’s digital ID infrastructure through its support for trusted enterprise solutions in sectors including finance, telecoms, insurance, retail, motor finance and payments.

Particularly, the company says it intends to pursue innovations in Ultimate Beneficial Ownership, AI, self-sovereign identity and payments integration.

The firm describes its platforms as “a single point of integration for customer onboarding, identity verification, fraud reduction and compliance – enabling businesses to manage the entire digital lifecycle securely and seamlessly.”

CEO and founder of Contactable Shaun Strydom said the new capital drives their mission further in terms of democratizing digital identity across Africa.

“This investment is an exciting development for Contactable. It allows us to strengthen our platform and expand with our customers, while continuing to build the digital identity infrastructure that supports Africa’s growing digital economy,” said Strydom.

He added that “partnering with Venture Capitalworks also supports the business to scale effectively, ensuring we are better positioned to unlock growth opportunities across the continent.”

“Contactable operates at the nexus of technology, regulation, and inclusion. This partnership with Venture Capitalworks will allow us to deepen our customer partnerships, extend our reach into underserved markets and enhance our ability to deliver secure, trusted digital identity solutions where they are needed most,” the CEO added.

Brent Shahim, Managing Partner at Venture Capitalworks, which led the fundraise, said the investor believes in the potential of digital identity in opening up economic opportunities in Africa.

“Digital identity is at the heart of financial inclusion and digital transformation. Our strategy is to partner with proven leaders like Shaun and his team, bringing, beyond capital, the operational commitment to accelerate their growth.”

“We could not have done this without our co-investors who are also LP’s in our fund. They supported our vision for the business and together we are a formidable capital partnership,” he added, in appreciation of the co-investors in the deal.

Contactable has been joining forces with other solution providers including Regula and ID Secure to combat fraud in Africa.

Founded in 2012, the company believes its technology is crucial in accelerating the growth of Africa’s digital ID market which is estimated to reach $3.4 billion by 2028.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometrics  |  Contactable  |  digital ID  |  funding  |  KYC  |  onboarding