Mitek acquires HooYu for £98m

Digital identity (ID) verification and fraud prevention, specialist Mitek has announced the acquisition of KYC (know your customer) technology specialist, HooYu.

The United Nations (UN) estimates that up to three percent of the world’s GDP – or nearly two trillion dollars – is money laundered annually. The increased regulatory eye, together with the rise in cryptocurrency and NFT markets, means criminals have more avenues and more incentive than ever to launder their money. The need to identify and stop sanctioned and politically exposed people (PEP) from interacting with business has never been greater. As sanction lists continue to update, enterprises grapple with continuing to stay compliant.

Max Carnecchia, CEO Mitek Systems said “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,”

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

“Through this acquisition, organizations gain a more complete picture of the consumer by marrying biometrics, ID document validation, geolocation and identity confidence scoring with real-time data signals such as bureau checks or matches to politically exposed person or sanction lists. HooYu’s innovative orchestration capabilities will enable Mitek customers to optimize workflows and accelerate the deployment of identity solutions across channels.”

HooYu CEO Keith Marsden said “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,”

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