The Netherlands-based Main Capital Partners, a private equity company focused on the software industry and management buyouts, announced on Tuesday that it has acquired a majority stake in InnoValor.
InnoValor is the creator of ReadID, a mobile identity verification software provider using Near Field Communication technology (“NFC”).
InnoValor represents the second platform investment from the Main Capital VII fund, which closed in October, 2021, with a cap of €1B. This flagship fund targets majority investments in software companies with a valuation ranging from €25M up to €250M. Investments can be both replacement capital as well as growth capital for add-on strategies and growth in general.
“Value through innovation”
Founded in 2013, InnoValor started as a company advising organisations on how to realise digital innovations, and has now become both a software company as well as an advisory company. It offers a sustainable contribution to realising value from digital innovation for organisations and government.
InnoValor’s product, ReadID, provides mobile identity verification software using NFC technology to read and verify the authenticity of identity documents. The company claims it contributes to the improvement of safety within transactions and the reduction of fraud worldwide.
The software also allows ID cards and passports to be easily verified using a smartphone, for example, during the onboarding process of new banking customers or at border control points. When combined with face verification, the company claims that it is ‘nearly impossible’ to commit identity fraud.
Wil Janssen, CMO and co-founder of ReadID, says, “With Main’s experience and extensive network, we can expand internationally faster by opening more regional offices, as well as develop our product suite by adding more relevant partners. Our aim is to offer a full suite of safe, high-tech identity verification methods in the short term.”
Currently, ReadID is active in more than 18 countries with banks, financial institutions, governments, border control authorities, electronic identification and digital signature (“eIDAS”) trust services, and more. Its customers include the UK Home Office, Rabobank, ING, itsme, SK ID solutions, and ASB Bank.
ReadID works with over 2,600 smartphone models. The company has over 40 employees who serve customers from its office in Enschede.
Largest digital on-boarding immigration identification programme
Since April 2019, the ReadID technology has been used by Home Office UK for its EU Settlement Scheme, to confirm the identity of European Economic Area-nationals living in the UK when applying for a UK immigration status.
According to a statement, the software has concluded more than 6 million applications so far, making this the world’s largest digital on-boarding immigration programme using remote identity verification.
Charly Zwemstra, Managing Partner of Main, says, “We aim to help ReadID expand into new geographies and strengthen their position in this fast-growing product market by sharing our experience and network. An important part of the strategy is to invest more in product development as well as in strengthening marketing and sales processes and by opening offices in new geographies while strengthening their partner ecosystem. Additionally, a selective buy-and-build strategy will be explored to boost the product offering.”
Through this investment in ReadID, Main enters the adjacent segment of identity verification, which is growing rapidly, accelerated by the need for digitisation during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to a statement from InnoValor, the expected growth of this segment is 30 – 40 per cent per year until 2027.
About Main Capital Partners
The firm is a software investor in the Benelux, DACH and Nordics. Main has almost 20 years of experience in strengthening software companies and claims to work closely with management teams of its portfolio companies as a strategic partner to achieve sustainable growth and build ‘excellent’ software groups.
The company has over 45 employees and has offices in The Hague, Stockholm, and Düsseldorf. As of October, 2021, Main has over €2.2B assets under management and invested in more than 120 software companies. Main says that these companies create jobs for approximately 4,000 employees.
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