Open banking start-up truID raises funding to expand customer base

Written by Sharon Kimathi
16th June 2020

South African fintech start-up truID, which has developed open banking technology to help financial service providers securely access consumer banking data, has raised an undisclosed funding round to help it expand its customer base and build out its product, according to Disrupt Africa.

Founded by Dmitry Drabkin, Christian Schuit and Paris Valakelis, truID claims to provide financial institutions and fintechs with secure access to consumer banking data.

It has raised an undisclosed funding round to help build out its product.

Its Connect API provides consumers with a consent-driven process that allows them to share their bank statements, transaction history and other relevant information with third-party providers, who in turn can develop a range of value-adding services and products.

The start-up currently works with South African-based financial services providers to digitise and optimise their internal processes, and has now raised an undisclosed amount of funding from fintech holding company Crossfin, which has made an investment into truID through its ventures investment arm Crossfin Ventures.

truID will use the funding to build out its data capabilities, leveraging Crossfin’s broad portfolio of fintech companies and extensive rails which offer multiple additional consumer touchpoints.

“South Africa sees 3.2 million credit applications per month, each one requiring three months’ bank statements and account verification. Our first objective is to expand our services to a greater audience of these affected applicants who often lose valuable time and money sourcing the required paperwork,” says Drabkin.

Crossfin’s portfolio companies currently process more than ZAR 73 billion ($4.4 billion) in point of sale transactions annually from over 172 million transactions across more than 11,000 retail stores and 21,000 clients in 13 African countries. Recent additions to that portfolio include My-iMali and Nobuntu, and Crossfin’s chief operating officer (COO), Anton Gaylard, says the company had been impressed by the truID team and its vision.

Drabkin notes that open banking has immense potential for innovation in the banking, asset management, property, insurance and fintech sectors.

“By giving consumers control over their own banking data, we hope to spur a new wave of customer-centric innovation in the banking and financial services industry. Instead of providers developing products, we believe consumers are more interested in what third-party providers can develop using our API, resulting in products that meet their specific needs,” he says.

He believes this will change banking in the same way that ‘app stores’ changed the mobile phone landscape, “by creating a platform for wide-scale innovation that will transform banking”.