Truecaller Bolsters Enterprise Offering With Acquisition Of Bengaluru Based TrustCheckr

Caller identification app Truecaller has acquired the Bengaluru-based TrustCheckr, which helps businesses verify customer information and detects the risk of fraud based on phone numbers and digital signals.

This acquisition will serve to bolster Truecaller’s recently launched risk intelligence tool for enterprises, enhancing its capabilities and market presence, the company said in a statement.

“Truecaller is the number one solution for identifying spam as well as fraud attempts globally. While our main focus has been on CallerID and spam protection, fraud calls and messages are increasing at an unprecedented rate globally. Fraudsters operate in a different manner than spammers, so investing in elevating our fraud detection capabilities is a natural evolution for us,” said Nami Zarringhalam, cofounder, chairman and chief strategy officer of Truecaller.

This acquisition is expected to significantly enhance Truecaller’s service portfolio and capabilities, he said, adding that the deal will add value to both its user base, and current enterprise offerings.

“The combination of the skills that TrustChekr has in identifying fraudsters through external signals of fraud with Truecaller’s internal signals will be really powerful” Zarringhalam added.

Bengaluru-based TrustChekr was founded in 2017 by Adhip Ramesh and Shivraj Harsha. Last year, the fraud prevention platform raised $1 Mn in a Pre-Series A funding round from IIFL Securities and Rangsons (NR Group).

Truecaller said that this business decision will have a minor cash flow effect and is not expected to have a material impact on the financial results in 2023 as it was taken in the fourth quarter of 2023.

The acquisition announcement comes at a time when the Indian market has emerged as Truecaller’s strongest base, as the country accounted for more than 75% of its revenue in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023. The company also said that India’s demand for its B2B-focused Truecaller for Business (TfB) product was ‘very high’.

Earlier this year, Truecaller said it crossed the mark of 250 Mn active users in India. In March, the company opened an office in Bengaluru – its first outside Sweden.

Truecaller recently launched an artificial intelligence (AI)-based feature called Truecaller Assistant to help users answer calls. Currently, the assistant can converse in Hindi, English, and the Indianised ‘Hinglish’ languages in India.