[Funding alert] Digital identity and authentication platform Bureau raises $12M in Series A led by Quona

Bureau, a frictionless identity verification and fraud protection platform, on Thursday announced that it has emerged from stealth with a $12 million Series A round led by Quona Capital, with participation from Commerce Ventures, Okta Identity as well as strategic angels Mark Britto, EVP Chief Product Officer at Paypal, and Bobby Mehta, Retd. President and CEO of TransUnion. 

Headquartered in San Francisco, CA with offices in India and Malaysia, Bureau had raised a seed round of $4.2 million in August 2020 from XYZ Ventures, Blume Ventures, Village Global, EMVC and Sweat Equity Ventures, who have invested in the Series A round as well.

In a media statement, the company said the latest funding will be used to enhance the products and establish a wider footprint in India and South-East Asia. The company also plans to double-up on its current capabilities in end-to-end customer on-boarding and launch solutions including account takeover prevention, transaction monitoring, and solving return-to-origin (RTO), and chargebacks use cases, the statement added.     

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Bureau was founded by serial entrepreneur Ranjan Reddy in 2020, just as the Covid pandemic was pushing the world towards digital transactions. It has been helping businesses automate their decisions, on-board good customers, prevent fraud, and power seamless user experiences. Bureau verifies, identities, fights fraud, and generates trust in both businesses and consumers. With the sustained increase in online transactions and payments, it is imperative for financial institutions to understand their customers’ digital persona and behaviour, as they safely on-board those who are new to credit while minimising risk and fraud.      

“Bureau's platform seamlessly protects and accelerates user journeys using only a mobile number. Digital interactions become smoother, swifter and more secure,” said Ranjan Reddy, Founder and CEO of Bureau.     

As per Fortune Business Insights, fraud detection and prevention platforms globally have witnessed a rise in demand, post-pandemic, with their market size projected to grow from $26.97 billion in 2021 to $141.75 billion in 2028. 

“We are excited to see Bureau’s growth and ambition to become the gold standard to ensure that people and businesses can truly trust one another enough to transact safely, and deliver digital and financial inclusion,” added Ganesh Rengaswamy, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Quona.

With over 12 million identities verified through the platform to date, the company has a customer base comprising leaders in fintech and financial services including Jupiter Money, Goibibo, Aditya Birla Capital, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, India Gold, and PhonePe. 

“We are excited to double our investments in building cutting edge products, forging long term customer relationships, and attracting great talent to build a trust network that lets businesses and users transact with confidence,” said Reddy.

According to Karthik Reddy, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Blume Ventures, in a mobile-first world, Bureau has recognised that there is a beautiful balance in securing user transactions without compromising on customer delight. “By doing so in an accountable fashion and underwriting the risks, enterprises are seeing Bureau as the most natural partner in reducing costs and frictions of fraud while keeping customer experience intact."

“Bureau’s existing customer base, and the traction that they have gained among consumers, speaks to the tremendous market opportunity ahead,” said Austin Arensberg, Senior Director at Okta Ventures. “Bureau is the first company we’ve backed that’s explicitly tackling the emerging Asian markets, and we are excited to support the company and team on their journey.”