Smile Identity has announced that it has acquired Appruve's parent company
(Inclusive Innovations, Inc.) and is actively fulfilling regulatory
requirements to finalise the transaction for the affiliated entities in Africa.
This strategic acquisition, according to a statement released
on Wednesday will expand Smile Identity's footprint across Africa and solidify
its position as the continent's leading identity verification and digital KYC
provider.
For the past six years, Smile
Identity has built its business by combining document verification,
face verification, biometrics, and data integrations into local trusted ID
authorities to verify people's true identities. Likewise, since 2018, Appruve has been using financial and
identity data to detect fraud and automate compliance for businesses across
Africa.
Both companies share a similar outlook on the problem of
identity in Africa and a unified vision of the future success of Africa's
digital economy, which they believe will be propelled by the ethical use of
digital identity data to provide opportunities for everyone to participate in
the economy. With the widest ID coverage in the continent, their business
merger will provide an unmatched solution to the market and enable millions
more Africans to easily prove their true identity online.
Speaking on the acquisition, Mark Straub, CEO and co-founder of
Smile Identity, says, “With this
acquisition, we can strengthen our overall understanding of the direction of
KYC in Africa. This includes our knowledge of the markets, our relationships
with regulators, and our collaborations with compliance officers across the
continent in both the public and private sectors.”
The acquisition of Appruve will result in an expanded suite
of APIs, including mobile money, data, and anti-fraud checks, providing
customers with a more comprehensive digital identity verification solution. The
combined entity will cover over 1 billion Africans, the African diaspora, and
100 million African businesses, supporting over 230 documents and data types
with integration options for every device and operating system combination in
Africa.
“From a product standpoint, we’re
excited to work with Smile Identity on fraud-related data sources, an area that
Appruve has looked at extensively and built some infrastructure around. On the
other hand, Smile Identity just rolled out an AML product, and when combined
with these datasets and our shared presence across multiple markets, we will
provide the best possible experience for all of our clients across Africa” - Paul Damalie, CEO and Founder,
Appruve.
Furthermore, Smile Identity will deepen its presence in Ghana
and expand into francophone Africa with a focus on Cote D'Ivoire and Senegal.
With the ability to verify all local identity documents across Francophone
Africa, Smile Identity is now even more relevant to its clients and to banks
and financial services institutions serving West Africa.
For the next few weeks, Appruve and Smile Identity will work
on completing the required administrative processes to conclude the acquisition
of Appruve’s local entities. As a result, their customers can expect a steady
transition process, an expanded product offering, a full suite of SDK and API
integration methods, and global time zone customer support coverage. The
combination expands Smile Identity’s lead in providing Africa's best identity
verification and KYC solutions.
