Sanari Capital is pleased to announce its USD 5 million (c.R85 million) investment in iiDENTIFii as part of a USD 15 million growth capital raise led by pan African financial services investor, Arise Investments. iiDENTIFii is a market leading digital biometric identity verification company offering enterprise-grade solutions across Africa, and the 2022 winner of the KPMG Tech Innovator in Africa award.
iiDENTIFii’s advanced face authentication technology securely authenticates users via their cell phones or PCs within seconds. iiDENTIFii operates across several industry verticals and is used by the largest pan-African banks, insurers and mining houses for both customer and employee authentication.
iiDENTIFii will use this investment to fund its expansion across the Africa. Cybercrime within financial sector is a growing threat to the continent. The consequences of an attacker exploiting security vulnerabilities are particularly severe for fintech 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. Veteran US tech entrepreneur Bill Spruill additionally backed the company in the round and brings vast expertise in this space.
Sanari, a private equity firm focused on high growth companies emanating from Africa (mainly South Africa) with regional and global scalability, recently achieved a R475 million (USD28 million) first close of its first institutional fund, the Sanari 3S Growth Fund. The investment in iiDENTIFii will be the third investment in this new fund, which has already deployed more than 30% of its fist close committed capital and will see Sanari continue its focus on partnering with management teams to build business that are Sustainable, Scalable and Saleable (Sanari 3S).
“We are very pleased to partner with iiDENTIFii in driving growth and scalability of digital identity verification on the African continent as a gateway to digital and financial inclusion. iiDENTIFii’s technological capability in authenticating African faces is a significant differentiator on a global scale and one that speaks to inclusive innovation and positive social impact, which strongly aligns with Sanari’s diversity and impact agenda. The recent KPMG award is further validation not only of the hard work that the management team has put in over the years to build a market leading solution that has attracted South Africa’s top financial institutions but also of the ability to scale into the rest of the continent” said Sihle Gumede, Investment Director at Sanari Capital.
“I’m incredibly proud of the engineering team and our growth as a company over the past three years,” says iiDENTIFii Founder and CEO, Gur Geva. “This new growth capital validates our central business thesis that we are the preferred partner for enterprise-grade identity in Africa. We’re 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 are confident to continue our mission of stopping identity theft in Africa.”
“In addition to complementing Arise’s portfolio of bank investments across Sub-Saharan Africa, this investment heralds our foray into the African fintech market,” says Arise CEO Gavin Tipper. “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.”
“As an entrepreneur and investor, I’ve had a significant amount of experience with transformative technology,” says Bill Spruill “The work being done by iiDENTIFii is particularly exciting and I am excited to see the impact it has on the African continent.”
