SUMMARY
- Equal, an identity verification startup, raised $10M, led by Prosus Ventures, Tomales Bay Capital, and Keshav Reddy.
- Funds will boost operations, and partnerships, and develop India’s data-sharing framework, valuing Equal at $80M post-round.
- The platform integrates 50+ identity databases, aiding 350 corporations like TVS Credit in fraud reduction.
Equal, a Hyderabad-based identity verification firm, has raised $10 million (nearly ₹84 crore) from Prosus Ventures, Tomales Bay Capital, and its founder, Keshav Reddy. The business will use the fresh capital to expand operations, form new strategic alliances, and create a general framework for improving India’s data-sharing ecosystem.
According to a statement from the company, the startup was valued at $80 million following the round. The round included participation from several well-known businesspeople and other funds in addition to major institutional investors, including Blume Ventures (Founders Fund), DST Global, Quona VC, Gruhas VC, the fund managed by Nikhil Kamath, a co-founder of Zerodha; Binny Bansal, a co-founder of Flipkart; Karan Adani, a scion of the Adani group; Kunal Shah, the founder of Cred; and Parth Jindal of JSW Cements.
According to ET, Reddy told them, “Equal will be a venture-funded company with a large bouquet of products. While we are currently serving businesses, there is a possibility that we will get into the consumer space as well. We are building three major technology stacks catering to different needs of companies—one is banking and financial services, second is an employment stack, and third is the consumer tech stack.”
Equal was established in 2022 by Reddy, the scion of the GVK family, which controls the GVK Group, and Rajeev Ranjan, the former director of engineering of Swiggy. Equal is developing a platform that, by integrating with over 50 identity databases, helps companies reduce fraud and expedite their know-your-customer (KYC) procedures, which in turn aids in regulatory compliance.
About 350 major corporations, including TVS Credit, Larsen and Toubro, and Upstox, are served by Equal. With headquarters in Hyderabad and sales locations in Bengaluru and Mumbai, the company has assembled a staff of roughly 65 individuals.
