Latest Funding Round Makes Socure ‘Most Highly Valued’ Identity Company

“The company’s ability to stoke investor interest is understandable.”

After reaching a $1.3 billion valuation through a Series D funding round earlier this year, Socure has dramatically upped the ante, with help from investors Accel and T. Rowe Price. The selfie-based onboarding specialist has announced that it has closed a “significantly oversubscribed” $450 million funding round that has brought its valuation up to $4.5 billion.

The funding round, led by Accel and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price, also featured participation from new investors – Bain Capital Ventures and Tiger Global – as well as existing investors Commerce Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, and Sorenson Ventures. Socure says its new valuation makes it the most highly valued private company in identity verification.

The company’s ability to stoke investor interest is understandable. Interest in facial recognition solutions that can enable remote onboarding has been on the rise in recent years – especially in the wake of the pandemic – and Socure has performed exceptionally well. Last month, the company issued a Q3 update in which it revealed that it had seen a 221 percent increase in new customers compared to same period in 2020, and a 500 percent year-over-year increase in bookings.

The company’s investors think it can go farther.

“With its differentiated technology and strong management team, Socure is well-positioned for long-term growth as a leader in identity verification and fraud prevention on the Internet,” said T. Rowe Price Associates Director of Private Investments Andrew Davis.

Accel Partner John Locke, meanwhile, suggested that Socure is poised to benefit from an already strong market position. “Every team building a digital product faces challenges validating users and security,” he said. “Socure’s API has quickly become foundational to these teams.”

For its part, in the wake of this new influx of funding, Socure says it will “substantially accelerate its investments” in recruitment, with a focus on attracting top talent in data science and engineering; and in product innovation and efforts to reach new market “including the public sector”. The company recently appointed former IDEMIA North America executive Matt Thompson as its new General Manager of Public Sector Solutions.

(Originally published on Mobile ID World)