Identify verification startup Trulioo announced today it has raised $6 million in a Series A financing round, according to technology blog Techvibes.
The round was led by New York-based Tenfore Holdings with participation by Canada’s largest investor, BDC Venture Capital, and existing seed round investor Blumberg Capital. Consequently, Dan Levine of Tenfore Holdings has joined Trulioo’s Board of Directors.
The round brings the startup’s funding to $8.3 million. The Canadian company says it plans to use the new funds to “facilitate expansion into international markets, as well as further product development.”
The funding comes as the company surpasses over 100 million online profiles scored, according to Trulioo. Its software is targeted for use by websites and mobile applications that support social login. Social login use is heating up in ecommerce thanks in large part to the ease of use within mobile apps; in a recent study by Gartner, adoption is projected to hit 50% by 2015.
It’s not just ecommerce websites and mobile apps that are having user authenticity issues, however—the online publishing world has been hit too. Recently, AOL acquired Adapt.tv for $400 million, only to find out that the ad network may be riddled with fake clicks by bots. And on the heels of its IPO, Twitter has come under similar scrutiny as it now seeks to monetize its user base via its new advertising platform.
“The growing popularity of social login is unfortunately also attracting the fraudsters,” says David Blumberg, Managing Partner at Blumberg Capital. “Trulioo’s software is a unique and effective tool to help make social login safer for users and more valuable for customers. We think the company is well positioned to build out the biggest business in the vertical, as it continues to lead the market.”
Trulioo’s TruDetect software—which originally only supported Facebook login but now also covers Google+, Linkedin, Twitter and email addresses—enhances social login by verifying the identity of website or mobile app users without introducing additional friction.
“We are excited to have this new group of top investors and partners on board, that share our vision and bring the additional domain expertise we need to grow,” noted Trulioo’s founder and CEO Stephen Ufford. “Trulioo created the market for social verification. This additional investment helps ensure we continue to be the leader and brand to work with in the space by delivering the best product possible.”
