Youverify is a Nigerian provider of identity verification and AML solutions for banks and startups. The platform provides real-time business verification coverage in 145 jurisdictions across 48 countries and individual verification coverage in 46 countries, while serving commercial customers in 12 countries. It processes about 4 million monthly applications for over 3,500 businesses with 800 active clients and has expanded ID verification capacity from 400 million to 5 billion people and 600 million businesses. Youverify uses government data (not OCR), alongside mathematical models and AI, to verify identities, registrations and ownership, perform AML risk classification, and generate regulatory reports. The company serves industries including gaming, travel, healthcare, and telecommunications and competes with Smile Identity, Dojah, and Identitypass. Through a strategic partnership with investor Elm, Youverify plans to streamline AML compliance, bolster global risk intelligence, and expand its products into new markets. Youverify is a Lagos- and San Francisco–based identity verification company, founded in 2018, that automates KYC and compliance for banks, fintechs and other enterprises across Africa. Its core products include identity verification APIs, the Youverify OS (YVOS) enterprise compliance platform, the vFORM low/no-code onboarding tool, and the YouID digital identity platform. Nearly two-thirds of Nigeria’s commercial banks — including Standard Chartered, Standard Bank and Fidelity Bank — use its KYC products. The company reports rapid growth: its customer base increased 300% to more than 400 banks and high-growth startups, application processes grew over 1,000% to more than 5 million, YouID added over 500,000 users, and 600 service providers are on its marketplace waitlist. Financially, Youverify crossed an ARR of over $1 million last year. Over the next 18 months it plans to expand to 30 countries, increase verifiable IDs from 400 million to 2 billion, recruit aggressively in southern, eastern and francophone Africa, and develop automated compliance products for gaming, travel, healthcare and telecommunications. Youverify automates identity and background verification processes, primarily serving financial and telecommunication service providers. Since launch it has performed more than 300,000 customer registrations and verifications for some of Nigeria’s largest banks and financial companies. The company was co-founded in Lagos in 2017 by Gbenga Odegbami and Suru Avoseh. It has raised a $1.5 million seed investment led by Orange Digital Ventures Africa, with participation from Loftyinc Afropreneurs Fund. The investment is intended to help Youverify improve its technology and accelerate business development in Nigeria and across the continent. Previous financing includes an undisclosed 2018 pre-seed from Village Capital and Chinook Capital, and Kyane Kassiri is listed as an angel investor.

Total raised

$5M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Series A

Latest activity

Mar 2024