Smile ID 2024 Wrapped

To our Clients and Partners,

As 2024 comes to a close, we want to express our heartfelt gratitude for your trust and partnership. Together, we’ve achieved remarkable milestones and made strides toward a more secure and inclusive digital future.

This year, we’ve tackled challenges, expanded access across Africa, and developed solutions that empower businesses and foster trust. Reflecting on 2024, we see a year defined by innovation, resilience, and progress—all made possible by you.

Join us as we look back on the highlights of 2024 and set our sights on an even brighter future.

Big Moments, Bigger Impact

We kicked off the year with the launch of our Fraud in Africa Report, offering vital insights into fraud trends and the role of AI in identity security. Stay tuned as we launch the 2025 edition in the coming weeks! 

Surpassing 200 million identity verifications—doubling our previous milestone in just 11 months, highlighting the growing trust in our solutions, was another remarkable milestone. Alongside this, we expanded partnerships with major players such as Mastercard, Skaleet, and Paymentology, while optimising our infrastructure in South Africa, achieving verification speeds up to 10x faster.

We also achieved ISO 30107-1 certification, enhancing our biometric security and preparing for the rise in generative AI attacks. A major update to our liveness detection feature is coming in January—stay tuned!

Our relentless focus on innovation led to 14 new product updates, and features announced this year, with hundreds of smaller improvements rolled out behind the scenes to enhance all our offerings.

Among the highlights were:

• SmartSelfie™ Compare, a biometric innovation tackling identity fraud.
• Phone Number Verification, which now covers over 330 million numbers across five markets; Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
• News Screening for AML Checks, bolstering compliance measures.
• Our new Demo App makes it easier than ever to showcase SDKs and streamline field onboarding.

Beyond these marquee launches, we rolled out countless smaller updates to enhance the user experience. From adding IP address data to job results to introducing Single Sign-On (SSO) on our portal, and upgrading API key management for seamless credential handling.

On the data access front, we unlocked 10 new databases, bringing unparalleled opportunities to our partners. This included our first market entries in Zambia and Tanzania, alongside expanded capabilities in Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Uganda.

These achievements highlight our commitment to addressing Africa's fragmented and complex regulatory landscape. While we continue to expand access, remember that our Document Verification solution provides global coverage, verifying over 8,500 IDs across 226 countries and territories. This ensures that your business can thrive even in markets where data access remains limited.

In addition, 2024 was a year of significant visibility.

• Our solutions were showcased at 11 industry-leading events across diverse markets, including Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya.
• We expanded our community engagement by hosting our first mixers across South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria.
• and with close to 80 press mentions, including coverage of our Fraud Report, Nigeria eKYC insights, and Mastercard partnership, we continued to strengthen our position as a leader in identity verification.

Navigating a New Terrain

Operating across Africa comes with unique challenges, from navigating regulatory shifts to addressing varying compliance requirements. This year, we introduced new and refreshed country Guides for Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda, and Nigeria to help businesses expand confidently. You can also check out Zambia, Tanzania and  Côte d'Ivoire country guides here.

We also released the 2024 Nigeria eKYC Report, the first comprehensive analysis of Nigeria’s digital identity landscape. Using anonymised data from our verifications, the report provides a clear view of Nigeria’s progress in eKYC adoption and insights for businesses looking to scale securely in the digital economy.

When Kenya was added to the FATF Grey List, we helped businesses enhance their AML compliance. Similarly, in Nigeria, we supported companies to meet the CBN’s directive on POS agent registration.

Advocacy in Action

On September 16, we joined the global call for legal identity for all, spotlighting the 800 million people worldwide who still lack verifiable identities. In Africa, this challenge is especially pressing, but Smile ID is leading the charge to change that—making identity accessible, whether through banking, healthcare, or e-commerce.

In November, Fraud Awareness Week shed light on a rising concern: synthetic identity fraud fueled by generative AI. As fraud tactics grow more sophisticated, businesses must adapt to layered security measures.

Trusted By The Best

As a Pan African bank, we look to work with reliable partners that can provide services in our key markets,across over 30 African countries. We found that in Smile ID and their service has been instrumental in digitizing our business and customer onboarding. Our merchant onboarding process is now done in less than two minutes as compared to 24hrs-48hrs. We now use biometrics to onboard customer using Smile ID. It's been an enjoyable experience.

Adedayo Adeyemi, Group Product Head, Payments, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated

Smile ID’s biometric verification has been essential in preventing duplicate signups and  reducing fraud by comparing the user’s captured face to the ID, ensuring a higher level of security.

Victor Alade, CEO and Co-Founder, Raenest

Smile ID’s automated verification process and user-friendly portal have streamlined our operations, reducing the need for manual intervention and enhancing customer satisfaction. Their support team has been outstanding in addressing any issues promptly.

Maswana, Associate Product Manager, Franc

 

We have implemented document verification, Business Verification (KYB), and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) measures through Smile ID. It's amazing that as our business grows and our requirements expand, we can handle it all through SmileID. Having SmileID is like having an in-house team taking care of these crucial aspects for us.

Grant van Leeuwen, Full-Stack Developer, Troygold

Read more customer stories here 

Looking Ahead

If 2024 taught us anything, it’s that the future isn’t just something we head toward—it’s something we build together.

In 2025, we’ll continue to ask bold questions: What innovations will redefine trust? How can we make identity verification even more accessible? From releasing the 2025 Identity Fraud in Africa Report in a few weeks to rolling out advanced biometric features, and facilitating more quality webinars and new products built with the continent in mind, our commitment to progress is unwavering.

Thank you for being part of this journey. Here’s to a future where trust, innovation, and inclusion shape a connected Africa. 🥂

Wishing you a happy holiday and a wonderful new year.