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UK-based GBG Acquires IDology in $300 Million All-Cash Deal

UK-based GBG Acquires IDology in $300 Million All-Cash Deal

Identity verification and fraud prevention specialist IDology has been acquired by U.K.-based identity data intelligence firm, GBG, for $300 million (£233 million) in cash.

The deal will give GBG broader reach into the North American market; in a statement, the company said 99% of IDology’s revenues come from the United States. The acquisition will also add technologies like IDology’s ExpectID suite of onboarding, verification, and authentication solutions, to GBG’s offerings. IDology’s senior management team will remain intact, with the company’s employee base joining GBG.

“For the past fifteen years, IDology has provided multi-layered identity verification,” company president and CEO John Dancu said. “With the combination of IDology and GBG, we intend to innovate, delivering exceptional solutions for our customers, focusing on driving customer revenue and preventing fraud.”

IDology reported revenues of more than $38 million in 2018, at a CAGR of 16% and EBITDA of more than $16 million. In addition to praising the company’s growth, GBG CEO Chris Clark characterized IDology as a valuable partner in its mission to make broader inroads to the $1.5 billion U.S. identity verification market.

“With attractive organic growth, significant synergies and a strong cultural alignment, this is a high-quality addition to GBG,” Clark said. “The combination of IDology and GBG will enable us to meet the growing customer appetite for an identity verification provider with global capabilities and scale in key markets.”

The acquisition comes amid a new partnership announced between IDology and healthcare enterprise identification firm, NextGate. The Enterprise Master Patient Index (EMPI) platform will use IDology’s technology to help its customers improve accuracy in patient ID matching and bolster data collection and remediation work. IDology also recently announced that Dancou had been named to the Top 100 Influencers in Identity 2019 roster published by One World Identity.

IDology demonstrated its ExpectID Enterprise solution at FinovateFall 2012. Last year, the Atlanta, Georgia-based company was featured in the Silicon Review’s roundup of the 50 Fastest Growing Tech Companies. IDology was also named one of the Best and Brightest Companies to Work For in Atlanta by the National Association for Business Resources.