Payfone Raises $24M
Digital identity authentication company Prove announced a $24m round led by TransUnion with participation from existing investors Synchrony, MassMutual Ventures, and Wellington Management LLP. Payfone also announced that a strategic partnership with TransUnion, which will become its primary partner for regulated identity verification information.
Although 98% of online transactions are estimated to be legitimate, the digital economy suffers from a ‘trust gap’ in which the fear of cyberattacks, synthetic fraud, and stolen identities leads to falsely declined transactions and “ever-mounting fraud losses.” Payfone aims to close that gap, allowing businesses to approve more transactions instantly, while preventing fraud, using “powerful, proprietary algorithms.”
“The fear of identity fraud and cyberattacks holds the digital economy back from its full potential. For example, in lending, it’s striking that today five times more loan applications are approved in-person than on-line, despite credit worthiness. With our partnership with TransUnion, we can now leverage TransUnion’s footprint of more than 30 countries to help expand our Trust Score around the globe, allowing billions of additional consumers to safely access digital services.” – CEO of Payfone, Rodger Desai.
“We’ve had a relationship with Payfone since 2017, recognizing the incredible value they bring to fraud prevention. Within this new strategic partnership, we anticipate supporting Payfone’s expansion to new markets and looking at other uses of their products throughout our organization, said ,. “We are both committed to protecting consumers, focusing on data privacy and building trust with our customers, and the combination of our solutions will create a better, more seamless experience for everyone.” – SVP of Global Fraud and Identity Solutions, TransUnion, Geoff Miller.
