Africa: Biometrics Tech Firm Raises $15m Capital to Tackle Identity Theft in Africa

29 September 2022
Leadership (Abuja)
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iiDENTIFii, the innovative biometrics tech firm, has raised $15 million growth capital to tackle identity theft within the financial sector in Africa.

The round was led by African investment company, Arise, whose cornerstone investors include Rabobank Partnerships, Norfund, NorFinance and FMO. This is, to date, the largest African Series A in the identity verification space.

iiDENTIFii will use this investment to fund its expansion across Africa. Cybercrime within the financial sector is a growing threat to the continent. The consequences of attackers exploiting security vulnerabilities are particularly severe for financial services and banking apps that process sensitive financial information. The use of iiDENTIFii's biometric authentication to protect access to this sensitive financial information makes iiDENTIFii's solution an integral part of financial inclusion, digital inclusion, and identity inclusion on the continent.

Commenting on the capital, iiDENTIFii founder and CEO, Gur Geva, in a press statement, said: "I am incredibly proud of our engineering team and our growth as a company over the past three years. This investment validates our central business thesis that we are the preferred partner for enterprise-grade identity in Africa.

"We are excited to put the investment to work as we close in on our goal of authenticating every face in Africa. With this new funding and the networks of Arise, Sanari, and Bill, we confidently continue our mission of stopping identity theft in Africa."

Arise CEO, Gavin Tipper added that, "in addition to complementing Arise's portfolio of bank investments across Sub-Saharan Africa, this investment heralds our foray into the African fintech market.

"We are excited about our partnership with iiDENTIFii, which will allow us to offer their unique technology to banks in Sub-Saharan Africa, strengthening digital anti-money laundering practices and advancing financial inclusion."

In the same vein, Sihle Gumede of Sanari Capital said: "At Sanari, we place a strong emphasis on digital and human enablement to unlock business potential. iiDENTIFii is, therefore, a great addition to our investment portfolio and we look forward to being part of its ongoing growth journey. We are excited about co-creating a scalable and sustainable pan-African biometrics business."

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