Smile Identity, the African provider of digital identity verification solutions, has acquired Appruve‘s parent company (Inclusive Innovations, Inc.).
This acquisition will enable the startup to expand its 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 been building 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.
With both companies sharing a similar outlook on the problem of identity in Africa and a unified vision of the future success of Africa’s digital economy, the acquisition is expected to provide an unmatched solution to the market and enable millions more Africans to prove their true identity online easily.
Joining forces with Appruve results in an expanded suite of APIs, including mobile money, data, and anti-fraud checks, providing customers with a more comprehensive digital identity verification solution.
In addition, the combined entity will now 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.
Commenting on the acquisition, Smile Identity CEO, Mark Straub, said, “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.”
“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.
