Identity decision fintech Alloy raises another $52 million

Identity verification fintech Alloy has raised USD 52mn in an extension of last year’s Series C funding round, bringing its latest valuation to USD 1.55bn.

The latest investment round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Avenir Growth, with further participation from existing investors Canapi Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Avid Ventures and Felicis Ventures. The New York-based fraud tech says it will use the money to invest in a global rollout, after announcing an expansion to 40 countries last month, as it embarks on a recruitment drive to help it in that endeavour. Alloy is also in the process of building new features for its platform, constantly striving to expand its customer base.

Founded in 2015, Alloy has built an “identity decision platform” that supports fintechs in onboarding new customers and protects them from fraud. A recent survey by Forrester Research found that nearly two-thirds (64%) of financial institutions believe that fraudulent applications are outmaneuvering the ability of existing identity determination tools to prevent them, with approximately 18% of accounts opened as fraudulent.

Alloy’s simple API connects fintechs to important data – including social security numbers, credit data, home address, phone number and email. Over 300 companies use Alloy to connect more than 160 data sources, automate identity decisions during account creation and monitor them continuously.

Alloy has a “critical role” to play in the financial ecosystem

Alloy’s co-founder and CEO Tommy Nicholas says, “We feel incredibly fortunate to have partners who not only understand the impact of our investments in our platform and expand globally, but also proactively come to the table to support them. With this latest investment, we will be able to accelerate our growth and better address the global fraud challenges facing companies.”

Andrew Sugrue, Managing Partner at Avenir, says: “What makes Alloy unique is that the company has not only built a powerful platform; team consistently delivers expert guidance to help businesses, large and small, navigate risk as well as regulatory requirements.”

Justin Overdorff, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, continues: “With fraud rates on the rise, Alloy plays a critical role in the financial ecosystem by bringing their expertise and platform to both emerging fintech companies and established banks. Fraud is inevitable and one of the biggest risks of new financial technology; Leveraging Alloy’s infrastructure gives businesses a leg up against fraud by providing a unique holistic view of each customer from the day they are on board and throughout their customer lifecycle.”