Payfone raises $24M led by TransUnion, enters strategic partnership on digital identity
Payfone Inc., a platform for the authentication of digital identity, has raised $24 million in funding from TransUnion. Additionally, as part of a strategic partnership, TransUnion will integrate Payfone technology into its IDVision with iovation suite, according to a press release.
Existing investors Synchrony, MassMutual Ventures, the funding arm of MassMutual Life Insurance, and Wellington Management participated in the funding round. Payfone has now raised about $111 million, the release said.
"The fear of identity fraud and cyberattacks holds the digital economy back from its full potential," Payfone CEO Rodger Desai said in the announcement, adding that five times more loans are made in person than are made online. "With our partnership with TransUnion, we can now leverage TransUnion's footprint of more than 30 countries to expand our TrustScore around the globe, allowing billions of additional consumers to safety access digital services."
Payfone technology uses proprietary algorithms to help companies bolster their digital identity verification capabilities, allowing them to approve more digital transactions instantly, a spokesperson told Mobile Payments Today. The technology helps companies create tokenized IDs for their customers.
Payfone focuses much of its identity authentication efforts on the financial services, healthcare, e-commerce, insurance and retail industries.