Yoti, a London-based digital identity company with offices in Bengaluru and the US, has raised $9.7 million of new equity investment from existing private investors, employees and Robin Tombs, Yoti’s Co-founder and CEO, at a valuation of $99.6 million.

The company will use the funds to continue to grow its consumer network, invest in product development, and expand its operations globally.

According to Shantaram Jonnalagadda, Country Head for India of Yoti, 

“The reach of a digital identity platform such as Yoti has tremendous potential in a country of 1.3 billion people. Yoti is already working in a variety of industries including retail, finance, hospitality, government, dating sites, and travel. With the infusion of capital, we can continue to develop more partnerships and strengthen our operations globally.”

Founded in 2014 by serial entrepreneur Robin Tombs, along with Duncan Francis, and Noel Hayden, Yoti is a free app for consumers that lets people prove their identity to businesses and people, and prove their age online and to purchase age-restricted goods.

It can also be used to verify the details of people online, log in securely to websites without having to remember passwords and sign documents online using verified digital identities.

Last year, the company was selected by the Government of Jersey as its digital identity provider, with 10 percent of the Jersey adult population now using Yoti. In addition, over 2,000 convenience stores throughout the UK are fighting underage sales and the rise of fake IDs by using Yoti’s digital identity app to verify the age of customers for age-restricted goods. 

Yoti app has exceeded 4.7 million app downloads so far. The firm has also developed a private and secure browser-based age verification solution, ProveMyAge. This will help adult websites comply with the age verification requirements of the upcoming Digital Economy Act, set to come into force later this year, the company said in a release. 

Robin Tombs, Co-founder and CEO of Yoti, added, 

“This latest funding round will help us to continue to grow our consumer network and work with businesses globally to give as many people as possible a simpler and safer way of proving who they are.”

(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)