Hot startup of the month: Nigeria's Smile IDHot startup of the month: Nigeria's Smile ID

Africa's financial institutions are bearing the brunt of the staggering advancement in digital fraud on the continent.

Biometric fraud is high, as fraudsters increasingly target authentication points over registration processes, using advanced techniques like digital face manipulation and face-swapping technologies.

In this critical landscape, biometric authentication is proving to be a powerful defense. That is where Smile ID comes in, using biometric technology to authenticate users' identities.

"Smile ID's core technology includes artificial intelligent (AI)-powered biometric verification, SmartSelfie, real-time KYC [know-your-customer] checks, document verification, and fraud detection," Smile ID CEO Mark Straub told Connecting Africa in an interview.

Founded in 2016, Smile ID integrates with government ID databases across multiple African countries, offering businesses a fast, reliable and compliant way to verify identities and prevent fraud.

Smile ID's CEO said the company ensures the accuracy and reliability of its identity verification process through a combination of AI-powered biometric authentication, direct integrations with government ID databases, and advanced fraud detection algorithms.

Enhanced SmartSelfie

The company recently unveiled its Enhanced SmartSelfie as a tool in the fight against fraud.

Related:Hot startup of the month: South Africa's iiDENTIFii

"Our Enhanced SmartSelfie technology uses liveness detection and face matching to prevent spoofing, while multi-source verification cross-checks user information against authoritative records," explained Straub.

He added that these include random requests for facial movements, such as turning the head or performing specific gestures. This approach prevents fraudsters from bypassing systems with static images, pre-recorded videos, or advanced 3D masks.

"This feature is available across all Smile ID biometric authentication products, including SmartSelfie Authentication, Biometric KYC, and Document Verification. Businesses can implement it seamlessly to enhance security in user verification processes," Straub continued.

(Source: Smile ID)

Straub said that the company's SmartSelfie technology maintains high accuracy across various skin tones and demographics by continuously enhancing its AI models with real-world fraud examples.

"With a 99.8% facial recognition accuracy rate and over 2.8 million face verifications per month, Smile ID's system is specifically trained for African faces, ensuring reliable biometric verification," he said.

Additionally, SmartSelfie fraud detection process analyzes patterns during account creation and transactions, allowing businesses to prevent identity fraud while maintaining inclusivity and precision across diverse populations.

Smile ID gets high-ranking certification

Straub explained that Smile ID prevents fraud and ensures the security of user data through cutting-edge biometric fraud detection, rigorous compliance with global security standards, and continuous AI model enhancements.

"With ISO 30107-3:2023 Level 2 certification, Smile ID leads biometric facial attack prevention in Africa, achieving a 0% attack breach rating," Straub continued.

ISO 30107-3:2023 Level 2 certification is a globally recognized standard for biometric liveness detection, specifically testing systems against advanced spoofing techniques like 3D masks and deepfakes.

Straub said that the company ensures that businesses stay compliant with various data protection regulations including the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), as well as regulations from the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) and Kenya's Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC).

Smile ID also incorporates ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II – a rigorous security and compliance standard designed to demonstrate to clients that you can be trusted with their data.

Smile ID's business integrations

The CEO explained that the company offers integration options for businesses, whether through developer-friendly software development kits (SDKs) or no-code tools like its Smile Links and SmartCheck.

"Our SDKs support quick integration into mobile and web apps, allowing businesses to verify identities, prevent fraud, and ensure compliance in real time," he reflected.

He said with a single integration, businesses can access multiple verification services across more than 8500 ID types in over 220 countries.

"For non-developers, Smile Links provides a customizable, no-code solution for easy customer verification, while SmartCheck enables internal teams to conduct verifications via a web portal – no engineering required," Straub asserted.

He said the company's product has impacted fintech, banking, crypto, e-commerce, and ride-hailing industries by enabling secure customer onboarding and fraud prevention.

"Companies like Uber, Binance, Flutterwave, Moniepoint, and Ecobank rely on Smile ID to verify identities, comply with KYC regulations, and prevent fraud," the CEO concluded.  

Other companies do a similar job to Smile ID, like South African-based digital identity startup iiDENTIFii, which has developed a remote biometric identity authentication app to stop identity theft.