IDfy raises $23m to scale risk detection after 4 years of growth

IDfy, a digital identity verification startup based in Mumbai, has raised about 2.2 billion rupees (US$23 million) in a primary funding round at a post-money valuation of $256.4 million (24.2 billion rupees), according to sources familiar with the matter. An investor confirms that the round closed last week.

Founded by Ashok Hariharan in 2011, IDfy provides customer onboarding, fraud detection, risk management, and compliance solutions for companies.

Photo credit: Edited screenshot by Ulla for Tech in Asia

Employing 600 individuals, the firm operates across seven countries: India, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt. It says it serves more than 2,500 clients across sectors, including banking, fintech, insurance, telecom, ecommerce, and FMCG.

IDfy’s clients include Amazon, Airbnb, Unilever, British Telecom, Fidelity Investments, Cognizant, Airtel, Vodafone, and Britannia. The startup also serves large banks and ecommerce platforms across Asia, such as HDFC Bank and Zomato.

What may be setting IDfy apart from conventional KYC providers is the scale of the risk data it has accumulated, investors say.

“It’s impressive how they’ve indexed more than 330 million court cases and 30 million police records across India, covering high courts, district courts, and tribunals in multiple regional languages,” one of them explains. “It’s one of their fully owned subsidiaries called CrimeCheck.”

IDfy describes CrimeCheck as a database that helps banks and businesses identify adverse legal records, litigation history, and other red flags before onboarding customers or giving loans.

Another investor points to IDfy having built a vehicle-risk intelligence product called VehiClear. It has compiled “12 million vehicle records extracted from court databases and e-FIRs using AI and machine-learning models,” per an investor pitch deck seen by Tech in Asia.

According to the investor, the platform is designed to raise red flags that may not appear in standard vehicle checks. These include records of accidents and police seizures that could complicate ownership transfers.

More broadly, IDfy says its OneRisk platform analyzes more than 500 risk signals across individuals, businesses, and assets. It says this allows customers to assess legal, financial, and reputational risks before making decisions on lending, hiring, or onboarding.

Financial documents reviewed by Tech in Asia indicate that the company has grown for four straight years while staying profitable or breakeven.