Mitek announced acquiring HooYu for £98m to combat fraud

By Joy Dumasia

Mitek, a global leader in digital identity (ID) verification and fraud prevention, announced the acquisition of the UK’s leading KYC (know your customer) technology pioneer, HooYu. The acquisition helps to ensure businesses know the true identity of their customers by linking biometric verification with real-time bureau and sanction database checks. 

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 and the rise in cryptocurrency and NFT markets mean 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, organisations gain a 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 optimise 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.” 

“Mitek builds trust in the digital world, which we need now more than ever,” added Carnecchia. “This past year, Mitek continued to demonstrate our commitment to fighting fraud both with the acquisition of ID R&D and now with HooYu. We deeply respect HooYu’s heritage as a UK-founded technology company operating in the global financial services hub and one of the most highly regulated markets. The combination of both companies’ technologies now gives our customers the most comprehensive identity platform on the market today.”