- Digital identity solutions provider Signicat has acquired fraud prevention firm SmartWorks. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
- The acquisition expands Signicat’s presence and reach in Iceland, where SmartWorks is headquartered.
- Signicat made its Finovate debut in 2017 at FinovateEurope.
Digital identity solutions provider Signicat announced its sixth strategic acquisition since 2019 this week. The Norway-based company has acquired fraud prevention innovator SmartWorks. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Headquartered in Iceland, SmartWorks is the largest provider of e-signatures and anti-fraud solutions in the country. The company’s customers include Íslandsbanki, Brimborg, and the City of Reykjavik – where SmartWorks was founded in 2016.
“Electronic signatures are widely adopted and already a business standard in Iceland. However, trust services extend far beyond signatures with authentications, identity proofing, validations, trust orchestration and many other related services,” SmartWorks CEO and founder Olafur Pall Einarsson said. “This union puts us in the position to shape the future of digital identity in Iceland and to partner with all key stakeholders to define how the market will evolve.”
Signicat plans to leverage the acquisition to expand its presence in Iceland. The company is particularly eager to market its Dokobit by Signicat solution in the country. Secured via an acquisition in 2021, Dokobit provided cross-border signing capabilities and gave Signicat the ability to expand into the Baltic markets, including Lithuania where Dokobit was founded in 2008.
As part of this week’s acquisition, the entire SmartWorks team will join Signicat. SmartWorks’ Einarsson will continue on as Signicat Country Manager Iceland.
“We are highly enthusiastic about this acquisition as SmartWorks is the market leader in Iceland when it comes to fraud and digital identity,” Signicat CEO Asger Hattel said. “We can now further leverage SmartWorks’ expertise and resources to sell our portfolio of digital identity solutions across the Icelandic market.”
Norway-based Signicat has more than 13,000 customers in 44 countries, representing organizations in payments, digital wallets, and insurance, as well as in government entities. The company’s technology supports more than 130 data verification sources – including national eIDs – to identity both businesses and individuals. Signicat also enables companies to securely scan international identity documents using video-based verification for AML, KYC checks, and more.
Signicat finished 2023 topping the NOK 1 billion ($93 million) mark in revenue and more than one billion transactions. The transactions number represented a gain of more than 25% over 2022.