Mastercard, ACPL Invest In Digital Identity Solutions Startup Syntizen

Hyderabad-based digital identity solutions provider Syntizen has raised an undisclosed amount of Pre-Series A funding from global payments technology company Mastercard and biometric solutions provider ACPL.

The company plans to use the funds to strengthen its product offerings and expand its services in India and internationally. Syntizen will also reinforce its core product offerings for digital identity check, talent acquisition, and further enhancement of electronic customer onboarding platform.

Founded in 2014 by Siddharth Kukatlapalli, Vamsi Kotte, and Dinesh Desu, Syntizen offers digital identity solutions to regulated organisations and state governments in India by leveraging its proprietary Aadhaar-based solution.

Syntizen’s existing client portfolio includes Muthoot Fincorp and Manappuram Finance, Shriram Housing and Angel Broking among others. The company says that its solutions have helped its clients in introducing several industry firsts including ‘3 Minute Gold Loans’ and ‘Trade in an Hour’ services.

Ajay Sinha, MD, ACPL said, “They have already executed and deployed some of the exemplary solutions such as the one in Telangana, and there is a wide scope of business to tap the prevailing market opportunity.”

It claims to have helped in saving about INR 85 Cr annually for its state government clientele. Syntizen also offers a digital affiliation solution, which allows any institution (school/college) to get affiliation digitally from any university. The solution has been implemented at Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad, making affiliations seamless for the institute.

Rajeev Kumar, senior vice president, market development, South Asia, Mastercard said, “Mastercard’s investment in Syntizen is part of the organization’s commitment to foster India’s startup ecosystem and the fintech revolution, through both partnerships and capital infusion. Syntizen has exhibited a unique ability to develop meaningful technology solutions from its industry knowledge and on-ground initiatives.”

A recent McKinsey report says that the identity management domain is growing at 20% Y-o-Y. Globally, the personal identity management (PIM) market is expected to grow at 20% CAGR and reach about $34 Bn by 2024. While the market is still nascent in India, the repeated breaches and attacks incurred by the Aadhaar system have necessitated startups such as Veri5Digital with solutions to make this data more secure.

Aadhaar might just be 12-digit number issued by the UIDAI to the residents of India, but its implications are severe in the realm of security and data  protection as it is linked to biometric data, name, permanent address, and mobile number, as well as bank accounts and other government schemes. Over 1.2 Bn Indians have got an Aadhaar ID, according to the government, so security is a major concern when in any new implementation that uses Aadhaar.