With $10M Series A raise, McClean’s Verituity will be expanding its identify verification platform

Fintech verification company Verituity completed a $10 million Series A funding this week, led by ForgePoint Capital and Ardent Venture Partners.

Verituity’s cloud-based digital payout platform offers payment verification and modernizes bank treasury services for web and mobile. It integrates and automates identity verification, payment choice, account validation, risk and data compliance in the hopes of preventing fraud and establishing successful payments on the first try. ForgePoint Managing Director Don Dixon and Ardent Venture Cofounder Phil Bronner will join Verituity’s board following the raise.

Ben Turner, CEO of the McLean, Virginia-based org, said that he started the company last year following the explosive need for digital payments in the wake of COVID. He said that most payment receivers, be it a company or consumer, prefer to get their money digitally, opening up the potential for fraudulent payments.

“I had this fundamental belief that in order to have successful digital payments or payouts, you have to play fair,” Turner said. “About a year ago, we started putting together a solution for our core customer that addresses that challenge.”

Verituity CEO Ben Turner. (Courtesy photo)

When making a payment, Turner said people need to know if they’re paying the right person or company and whether it’s the right account. They also need to make sure payment instructions, such as going through a third-party like Paypal or Zelle, are correct so that payments complete on the first attempt. But with the legacy technology at many banks and institutions, it can be difficult to make the switch to virtual.

“Bank’s infrastructures or treasuries sometimes are 10, 20 years old and it’s hard for them to turn those into fully digitized platforms,” Turner said. “So we understand the value of those treasury platforms where they have made investments. and we make it so that their customers can have more effective digital solutions.”

Verituity’s software verifies those making or receiving the payment through a human-based Q&A, enables the payee to say what kind of payment account it is and then ensures the payment itself is not fraudulent, Turner said.

With the new funding, the company will be building out the platform, introducing new payment types and creating a more universal payment process. The 15-person company will also be hiring for 20 new positions this year, the majority of which will be local.

Turner would like to see verification at the forefront of all digital payments, including insurance claims, nonprofit chapter payments and government benefits.

“We’re really focused on making sure that verification is a core digital payment service,” Turner said.