Youverify raises $2.5M pre-Series A from Elm

On March 14, 2024, Youverify announced a $2.5 million strategic investment from Elm, a Saudi Arabian digital solutions provider. The round, described as pre-Series A, includes a partnership to enhance AML compliance, global risk intelligence, and product expansion. This follows earlier seed funding, including a $1M extension in 2022 led by LoftyInc Capital and Orange Ventures (bringing prior seed total to ~$2.5M) and a 2020 $1.5M seed.

Funds are allocated to scaling products into new markets, accelerating development of next-generation AML 2.0 solutions (including advanced biometrics and liveness detection), and strengthening operations. The investment aligns with Youverify's growth from Nigeria-focused identity verification to a pan-African and global compliance platform covering 145+ jurisdictions for businesses and 46+ for individuals.

As of 2024, the company processed 4M+ monthly applications for 3,500+ businesses with 800 active clients (up significantly from 2022). By 2026, it reported over 250M compliance and anti-fraud checks in 2024 alone, verifying 220M+ individuals and 30M+ businesses using 6,000+ global data points.

Youverify provides a compliance operating system for financial institutions, banks, fintechs, and regulated businesses. Its platform combines KYC/KYB onboarding, transaction monitoring, sanctions screening, fraud detection, case management, and regulatory reporting, powered by proprietary AI (Vera AI) that allows compliance teams to deploy workflows via natural language.

The company serves customers across Africa (strong presence in Nigeria, Kenya, and others), with expansion into MENA, North America, and Francophone markets. It processes millions of compliance checks monthly, drawing on extensive global data points for real-time verification and risk intelligence. Business model is primarily SaaS/PaaS, with clients including banks, payment providers, and enterprises seeking to meet standards from regulators like CBN, SAMA, and others without building in-house infrastructure.

Founded in 2017, Youverify has achieved certifications including ISO 27001, ISO 27701, and ISO/IEC 42001:2023 for AI governance, positioning it as a leader in responsible AI for RegTech in Africa.