Beyond You #1: The Year 2020 was personal, 2021 will be verified!
Just as it was for most people, 2020 was a year of mixed emotions for us at Youverify. The year had its own fair share of the sweet and not-so-sweet but we’re very thankful that we ended the year on a great note.
In this article, we will briefly recount some exciting memories, mention the not-so-exciting and relive the lessons we learnt. The reason we will share is so that we can roundly celebrate our wins, no matter how small, and share our future aspirations with our stakeholder community and friends.
Here, let us get going with the recap:
$1.5m Seed Round Investment raising
We began last year on a high note after we announced a raise of $1.5m seed round of equity financing. The round was led by Orange Digital Ventures Africa (ODV), Orange Group’s dedicated investment initiative in the MEA region and joined by Loftyinc Afropreneurs Fund, a West African early-stage technology fund.
The fund was an opportunity for us to accelerate our growth and execution of its technology roadmap to empower Africans with their identity most reliably and securely.
For the rest of 2020 and beyond, we are committed to helping organisations use data and its insight to make automated and efficient business decisions. It also aims to help speed up previously manual back-office processes.
Office Space and remote working
One of our most exciting moments of 2020 was opening our office in Lagos. The new office is spacious, offers a significant degree of comfort and is a central location for the team to work, learn and bond.
We are also excited to tell you that the team grew significantly during the year 2020. You can follow us on Twitter for a weekly introduction to each team member and how they blend into the team.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck with the attending lockdown, the team had to adopt a flexible work-from-home schedule for safety. And that significantly improved the team’s productivity.
ISO 27018 and 27001 certifications
In September, we got awarded the ISO 27018 and 27001 certifications by the International Standards for Organisation. This follows the successful completion of the requirements for the certification process by our team.
The reason we went all out to get the certifications is that we know that the ISO 27001 is the best practice approach to ensure that we manage our information security properly by being compliant to the standard.
Moreso, the certification will give our investors and stakeholders the assurance that we have put together an efficient system that has been designed to ensure that risks are professionally managed.
We shared our journey some months ago. You can read it all up here.
Our strides
Here are some of the amazing things our team has been able to pull off despite the challenges of 2020- the COVID-19 Pandemic and the #EndSARS Protest:
- We processed more than 50% of FG intervention for households and SMEs. We helped more than 100k Nigerians get prescreen and employed.
- We helped more than 500k Nigerians open bank accounts and applied for loans remotely.
- We increased our data points from 160 to over 5000
- And, we extended our data source to reach from just Nigeria to almost every country in the world right from lasgidi!
Looking ahead to 2021
In 2020, we gained a lot more by being candid with our team and our community about what we are doing and the difference that has made on the ecosystem. We have learnt the importance of building together and creating new solutions.
During a retreat session at the close of 2020, the team put our aspirations to paper. By setting the bar so high, we are motivated to put in 110% and make 2021 outstanding.
