- The company – specialized in electronic signatures, electronic invoices, and digital identities has secured new funding to consolidate its growth and expansion in key international markets.
- The new € 2M investment will also anchor its positioning in the emerging blockchain-based digital identity (SSI) market.
Validated ID, the Barcelona-based tech company which specializes in the digital signature, electronic invoice, and digital identity, has raised a funding round of € 2M. The new financing is led by Randstad Innovation Fund, the corporate venture arm of Randstad – a global leader in the HR services industry helping over 670.900 candidates all over the world – and the participation of co-investor Caixa Capital Risc, CriteriaCaixa’s venture capital management company, which manages over € 215M in innovative companies.
This round is also backed by founders, previous partners, and the leading law firm Cuatrecasas, via its investment vehicle for startups Cuatrecasas Ventures.
In the past few years Validated ID’s digital signature solution, VIDsigner, has established a leading portfolio of secure and easy to use electronic signature services with the highest legal and security standards. It is being used by over 100 partners and over 1000 clients. This reach, along with the development of its new Self-Sovereign Identity service, VIDidentity, has allowed the company to maintain steady three-digit growth.
With the new resources and the support of leading companies in its sectors, Validated ID enters a new stage of expansion with the aim of intensifying the internationalization of its VIDsigner signature service, and accelerating the technological product development and market consolidation for VIDidentity, its decentralized Self-Sovereign Identity service based on Blockchain for digital identity verification processes. This solution is already getting massive attention in healthcare, Public Administration, and education, due to its expected impact on data breach-related costs, IT costs, operations costs, support function costs, and personnel costs. VIDidentity ensures GDPR compliance and improves procedures such as customer onboarding, AML, and KYC, and therefore is expected to be especially significant on fraud reduction and counterfeit products.
We’re living an intense stage of growth in Validated ID. The time is right, our technology and our services are aligned with the market, and we have a great team that day after day is able to ride this wave. In this sense, the entry of Randstad Innovation Fund, Caixa Capital Risc, and Cuatrecasas Ventures is proof that we are on the right track. It implies that we’d be extending our digital signature service, VIDsigner, in a more ambitious way across European and LATAM countries and accelerating the evolution of VIDidentity as a service-aligned with the new universal identity models.
- Santi Casas, CEO of Validated ID
Paul Jacquin, the Managing Partner at Randstad Innovation Fund, added that
We are excited about the ongoing expansion of Validated ID’ e-signatures solution in Spain and its potential in selected markets in Europe. On top of that, we are especially strong sponsors of their involvement in Self Sovereign Identity (SSI) and the work they do with leading institutions. It is a natural development of the company’s capabilities that will play out as the SSI market matures.
Xavier Álvarez, ICT Director at Caixa Capital Risc, also noted that
This operation is one more example of our commitment with companies with a promising future and innovative solutions based on technology. Validated ID is a project that perfectly matches the spirit we’re looking for in companies when it comes to investing. It has a solid project and a very attractive product which makes it a company with a high potential growth.
Validated ID has three main lines of business. On the one hand, VIDsigner provides an electronic signature service designed for all cases of face-to-face and remote use, with maximum levels of security, legal compliance, and usability. On the other hand, with SP4i, it offers an electronic invoice service that meets national and European regulatory requirements. Finally, with VIDidentity it offers a new sovereign digital identity service (Self-Sovereign identity or SSI) based on blockchain technology and market standards that makes it a universal model, capable of solving identity validation problems such as security failures, privacy, GDPR, PSD2, and AML compliance, high cost, portability, and usability in KYC, and onboarding contexts.
About Validated ID ─ www.validatedid.com
Validated ID offers security trust services to the processes of electronic signature and digital identity verification. VIDsigner is our SaaS electronic signature service for face-to-face and remote scenarios. It combines the simplicity of use with the security of cryptography and biometrics. Its different types of signature combine with each other to fit the needs of teams and organizations.
About Randstad Innovation Fund ─ www.randstadinnovationfund.com
As a strategic corporate venture fund, Randstad Innovation Fund is building a portfolio of early-stage HR technology investments, which are at the forefront of technology or transforming the talent acquisition and workforce management industry, hence boosting external innovation within the Randstad Group. The goal is to combine Randstad’s expertise and reach with an entrepreneurial spirit and technological excellence. Randstad Innovation Fund has invested in companies e.g. Montage, Goodwall, Allyo, HackerRank, and Pymetrics since launch in March 2014. Randstad is the global leader in the HR services industry. The Group supports people and organizations in realizing their true potential by combining the power of today’s technology with our passion for people. In 2018, Randstad helped more than 2.5 million candidates find a meaningful job with our almost 250,000 clients.
About Caixa Capital Risc ─ www.caixacapitalrisc.es
Caixa Capital Risc, CriteriaCaixa’s venture capital management company, is an investor that provides equity and participating loans for innovative companies with high growth potential. With more than 10 years of experience, Caixa Capital Risc invests in start-up companies. Its investments are concentrated in three sectors: ICTs, health tech and industrial. Currently, Caixa Capital Risc manages, through eight investment vehicles, a volume of over 215 million euros in innovative companies in Spain and Portugal, and has a portfolio of 180 companies. Through its ICTs area, Caixa Capital Risc invests in initial phases of innovative companies that have projects for B2B markets with a strong technological component, led by committed entrepreneurs, with scalable value propositions, and a vocation to build a global business.
Currently, Caixa Capital Risc manages a volume of 73 million euros in the ITC segment, with a portfolio of 40 active companies.
About Cuatrecasas Ventures ─ www.acelera.cuatrecasas.com
Cuatrecasas Ventures is the investment vehicle for specialized startups in the LegalTech field, promoted by the law firm Cuatrecasas. Cuatrecasas is one of the leading law firms in Europe with strong implementation in Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. With a multidisciplinary and diverse team of more than 1,600 professionals and 24 nationalities, it covers all business law practices by applying knowledge and experience from a sectoral perspective and focused on each type of business. It has 28 offices in 13 countries and also maintains a close collaboration with other leading firms to offer a team adapted to the needs of each client and situation.
