Irish online verification company ID-Pal has raised €1 million in funding to fuel expansion.
The company, which was founded by Colum Lyons in 2016, is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) developer that provides solutions for businesses to ensure compliance with regulatory identity requirements.
The company uses mobile technology to allow clients to facilitate verification of their customers' identities quickly and easily. Clients include AIB Merchant Services, Elavon, Fexco, Mercer and One4all.
ID-Pal said the company intends to use the funding to to invest in all areas of the business as it eyes international growth opportunities.
Speaking to The Irish Times, Mr Lyons said the company is focused on “achieving something simple in what is a very complex marketspace.”
“We look to make it easy for end users to identify themselves to a business and for that business to be reassured that the individual they are dealing with is the person they say they are,” he said.
“Our initial approach was to focus on the SME space to bring complex, expensive technology at a price they could afford. We successfully achieved this with small mortgage brokers and legal and accountancy firms getting access to facial recognition, machine learning and artificial intelligence within one platform at a fraction of what it would usually cost. Our succes in this has latterly led to us being recognised by larger players,” Mr Lyons added.
ID-Pal was last year shortlisted in the 'emerging company of the year' category at the prestigious Technology Ireland awards. Prior to this it was also one of just 14 companies from across Europe selected to participate in Salesforce Ventures' virtual incubator, EMEA Accelerate.
Act Venture Capital, a Dublin-based VC company whose previous investments include Cubic Telecom, Deciphex, Ekco, SilverCloud, Scurri, Drop, Buymie and CitySwift, led the latest fundraise. A number of private investors also participated.
“ID-Pal has a very talented team, that are laser-focused on executing their vision. The product is the complete solution to ID verification and best in class, which is a credit to the team’s focus on ease of use and customer experience,” said Andrew O’Neill of Act.
“All of this combined with impressive growth and a large market opportunity means we are excited to be partnering with ID-Pal,” he added.
