Santander InnoVentures backs NYC digital ID firm
Santander InnoVentures has purchased an undisclosed stake in New York-based digital identity start-up, Socure, which analyses consumers' digital footprints, including social media, to confirm identities of new account applicants in real-time. This is a crucial step in any banking process and a challenge for many consumer-facing businesses, according to Mariano Belinky from Santander InnoVentures. Socure, which partners Feedzai, a fraud prevention firm specialist powered by machine learning, is used by customers including digital lending platform Kabbage and savings app  StashInvest.

Santander InnoVentures, the fintech venture capital fund of the Spanish banking group, has taken an undisclosed stake in New York-based digital identity startup Socure, growing its portfolio of fintech partnerships to nine companies since launch in 2014.

Socure utilises data from the digital footprint of consumers, including social media, to confirm the identity of new account applicants in real-time. Current Socure customers include Kabbage and StashInvest, and partners Feedzai.



Mariano Belinky, managing partner at Santander InnoVentures, says: “Identity verification is a crucial step in any banking process and is an issue challenging many consumer-facing businesses - there’s a huge opportunity for innovation in this space, in line with the evolution of digital identity and the issues around it, and we believe Socure are at the forefront of it.”



Santander sees huge scope for the application of Socure's technology in emerging markets for banking the unbanked and across fraud prevention and compliance in line with anti-money laundering directives.



Socure joins nine other startups in Santander's Innoventure's portfolio, joining the likes of iZettle, MyCheck, Cyanogen, Ripple, Digital Asset Holdings, Elliptic, Kabbage and SigFig.



Speaking at a conference in Madrid, Víctor Matarranz, senior executive vice president of strategy at Grupo Santander, highlighted the advantages of combining the agility and disruptive mentality of fintech companies with the international reach of banks.



"We believe the flexibility of fintech companies, and experience and soundness of banks such as Santander form the perfect partnership, good for startups and good for banks like Santander, as it helps us accelerate our digital transformation," he said.