Payfone Nabs $24M In Funding; Partners With TransUnion

Payfone announced that it has secured a $24 million funding round, led by TransUnion.

The funding also included participation from existing investors Synchrony, MassMutual Ventures, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company and Wellington Management.

TransUnion and Payfone have also formed a strategic partnership that will leverage their missions and capabilities. For its part, TransUnion will be able to boost its existing IDVision with iovation suite of products through the integration of Payfone’s Trust Platform and Trust Score, which enables businesses to instantly verify customers, while fighting off fraud and cyberattacks in real time.

Payfone serves six of the top 10 U.S. financial institutions, as well as leading healthcare, insurance, technology and retail companies.

“The fear of identity fraud and cyberattacks holds the digital economy back from its full potential,” said Rodger Desai, CEO of Payfone, in a press release. “For example, in lending, it’s striking that, today, five times more loan applications are approved in-person than online, despite creditworthiness. With our partnership with TransUnion, we can now leverage TransUnion’s footprint of more than 30 countries to help expand our Trust Score around the globe, allowing billions of additional consumers to safely access digital services.”

In addition, TransUnion will become Payfone’s main partner for regulated identity verification information.

“We’ve had a relationship with Payfone since 2017, recognizing the incredible value they bring to fraud prevention. Within this new strategic partnership, we anticipate supporting Payfone’s expansion to new markets, and looking at other uses of their products throughout our organization,” said Geoff Miller, SVP of global fraud and identity solutions for TransUnion. “We are both committed to protecting consumers, focusing on data privacy and building trust with our customers — and the combination of our solutions will create a better, more seamless experience for everyone.”

As part of the round, Miller will also join Payfone‘s board of directors.