Mitek acquires HooYu for £98m

Mitek will pay £98m (€117.4m/$129.2m) in cash as part of the deal.

The acquisition ensures that Mitek now has ID document validation, geolocation and identity confidence scores across all channels.

“Having a single platform that easily orchestrates and configures a KYC journey to manage identities and identify bad actors is becoming a prerequisite for any business transacting digitally,” said HooYu CEO Keith Marsden.

“Bringing together Mitek’s lead in identity, liveness and biometrics, with our orchestration, configuration and journey services simplifies identity management for financial institutions.”

This news follows HooYu announcing the launch of its open banking technology in January, which is used to enhance their responsibility compliance requirements. The identity confirmation tool is used by betting and gaming operators such as Tombola and Betfred, as well as banks such as NatWest.

KYC technology links biometric verification with real-time bureau and sanction database checks which ensure truthful identity and prevention of fraud.

“Our current geopolitical, commercial and technological environment represents a perfect storm for bad actors. Mitek is leading the fight against fraud by providing the technology that businesses need to stamp out digital money launderers and sanctioned individuals,” said Max Carnecchia, CEO of Mitek Systems.

“The only way to combat this scourge is to use artificial intelligence (AI) and stop bad transactions before they happen.”