Eight staff have been let go by the KYC and ID verification company, Smile Identity as part of an effort to meet its financial goals.
Smile Identity is a startup that specialises in KYC compliance and ID verification. The startup which assists startups like banks and fintechs in conducting identity checks for its consumers is one of the most famous names in the ID verification sector.
Early in June, the company let go of eight employees, the company confirmed to TechCabal.
“To better navigate the changing macroeconomic landscape of the tech startup world, we decided to reduce our team size to focus on profitability and product development. We let go of 8 employees, representing less than 10% of our workforce.” Part of the company’s email to TechCabal read.
The layoff comes as a surprise as the business completed a $20 million Series B round fundraising in February 2023.
According to TechCrunch, Smile Identity stated that the money would be used to increase employment efforts in East, Southern, and Western Africa in order to achieve its objective of growing across the entire continent.
To broaden its reach throughout Africa and strengthen its position as the continent’s top identity verification and digital KYC provider, the startup purchased the Ghanaian identity verification programme Appruve in April 2023.
Since its founding by Mark Straub and William Bares in 2017, Smile Identity has occupied a significant position in the African KYC market.