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This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
On Finovate.com
Around the web
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
Around the web
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
Bank data expert The ID Co. boosted its funding total to $11 million this week after closing on $2 million (£1.5 million). Headline investors in today’s round are Amadeus Capital Partners and SixThirty.
The company, which already has clients in 30 countries, said the funding will fuel further global growth. CEO James Varga said, “We are hiring fast and entering new markets and geographies across the globe. The recent launch of DirectID Insights and Income Verification means that we are in an excellent place to capitalise on the need for greater efficiency in lending practices to reflect borrowers’ expectations.”
The ID Co. has two main branches, DirectID, its B2B offering, and NoMo, its B2C product launched last fall. DirectID’s product lineup includes Insights, a dashboard that displays data to assist underwriters in lending decisions, and Income Verification, a tool that combines real time data with six algorithms to offer a clear picture of clients’ income. In addition, the company offers an onboarding solution, a categories and classifications engine, and a bank account validation tool.
The ID Co. was prepared for the onset of the U.K.’s Open Banking mandate well before it came into play last January. Atul Kamra, Managing Partner of SixThirty said, “James and The ID Co. team have gotten a real nice head start here, and are well positioned to take advantage from the regulatory tail winds afforded by Open Banking.”
Varga added, “The financial world is being fundamentally changed through Open Banking. It improves our understanding of each individual, allowing us to move away from traditional credit reference agencies.” Varga last demonstrated miiCard’s identity as a service capabilities at FinovateFall 2013.
Launched as miiCard in 2011, the company pivoted to The ID Co. in 2016. Within the last year, the company has launched its Open Banking API, released its NoMo consumer cashflow tracking app, and unveiled its Income Verification solution.
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This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
The ID Co. announced late this week that its NoMo solution is the first mobile app to leverage Open Banking to give users simple financial cashflow tracking. The solution is currently available on iOS with an Android version expected in December.
“We have been working on building a consumer app that allows customers to answer one very simple, but important question, and we’re confident that this premise means NoMo will be a great success with customers,” James Varga, CEO of The ID Co., said. He noted the new offering, combined with its DirectID solution for FIs, adds a significant dimension to the company and would “broaden (its) appeal within the market.”
“We look forward to the reception NoMo will receive now it has been launched,” Varga said.
NoMo provides cash-flow averaging, spending recommendations, personalized updates, and a financial performance overview that tracks your performance and progress in growing your cash account, specifically. Just in time for the trend toward rising short-term interest rates, view of the user’s account is “read-only,” adding to its security and privacy. NoMo is free to download and only available for U.K. users.
Two years into its rebrand from miiCard, The ID Co. continues to help banks and financial services companies onboard customers faster and more efficiently while meeting compliance standards and requirements. In August, The ID Co. partnered with CYBG (Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank), integrating its DirectID user verification technology into CYBG’s mobile banking app. The previous month, the company launched its Open Banking API platform, making it easier for businesses to use DirectID to access open banking services with major U.K. banks.
With customers including OakNorth Bank, Navient, and fellow Finovate alum, Prosper, The ID Co. has raised more than $9 million in funding. The company is headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland.
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This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
On Finovate.com
Around the web
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
It’s Open Banking Season in the U.K. And this makes this week’s launch of The ID Co.’s Open Banking API platform especially timely. The new solution enables business customers to use The ID Co.’s DirectID user verification technology to access open banking services with live connections to all major U.K. banks.
These connections provide access to institutions including Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Group, Santander, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Nationwide. Digital banks like Starling and Monzo are supported, as well.
“Open banking in the U.K. represents a huge opportunity for not only businesses but consumers to benefit from,” The ID Co. CEO and founder James Varga said. “We are passionate to enable our customers to take advantage of the Open Banking opportunity and help them unlock the true value of Open Banking. After all, it’s not just about the raw data – it’s what you do with it that counts.”
DirectID provides businesses with a plug and play, identity and bank data service that is designed to increase conversions, reduce risk, and save time and money. The solution features tools for income verification and underwriting, and verifies account information with instant access to digital bank statements. DirectID also includes a complete AML compliance and KYC verification process, and real-time assessments of credit risk exposure.
CTO for The ID Co. Scott Leckie called completion of the open banking integrations “an exciting step” and added that support for additional U.K. banks – as well as support for new Open Banking V2 data blocks and new products and services leveraging bank data – are forthcoming in the next few months.
DirectID is currently live with leading lenders, FIs, and fintechs in the U.K., the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the Netherlands. As miicard, the company demonstrated its identity-as-a-service technology at FinovateFall 2013. Last month, The ID Co. was granted FCA Authorization as Open Banking AISP in the U.K. market, and announced at the time that “key Open Banking customers and platform enhancements” would be added to the platform soon.
An inaugural member of the fintech accelerator, SixThirty, the Edinburgh, Scotland-based firm has raised more than $9 million in funding. The ID Co.’s customers include OakNorth Bank, Navient, and fellow Finovate alum Prosper.
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This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
In rebranding as The ID Co., James Varga’s identity-verification startup will be better poised to provide businesses and consumers with better fraud protection, faster onboarding, and easier, safer login and checkout capabilities. DirectID and miiCard will serve as The ID Co.’s two core business units, with miiCard Digital Passport “helping consumers own and manage their identities,” Varga explained, and DirectID B2B “more deeply embedding identity in business processes.”
“Our mission is to create a layer of trust online, a digital world where you can trust that people really are who they say they are,” he added. “Our new company name represents who we are, and better reflects our mission to help solve one of the greatest challenges of our time.”
Growth of The ID Co.’s DirectID B2B service in particular helped drive the rebranding decision. Currently deployed at leading banks, wealth management firms, and online lenders, the technology helps improve onboarding conversion rates, reduce fraud and improve underwriting accuracy by factoring in data sources such as Bank Verified Identities and financial transaction histories.
Launched in the fall of 2014, DirectID provides an “all-in-one solution” that is especially effective for the affordability testing in high-value, online transactions. The company’s consumer platform, miiCard (My Internet Identity Card) provides a “consumer-centric identity” for online and mobile users, including a digital passport being piloted with the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace and the state of North Carolina.
Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, The ID Co. demonstrated miiCard Identity as a Service at FinovateFall 2013. The company has raised more than $9 million in funding and was an inaugural member of fintech accelerator, SixThirty. Vargas sat down with American Banker last summer to discuss the challenges of online identity verification and the role of banks as a “source of trust.”
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This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.