VANCOUVER — Identify-verification firm Trulioo has closed a US$394-million Series D funding round, giving it a US$1.75-billion valuation. 

The valuation makes the Vancouver-based firm the newest-minted unicorn out of British Columbia. Four other B.C. companies have emerged as unicorns so far this year.

“We are tackling a very big market: identity. So, we see a huge opportunity to be the platform for the industry and to get there, we need to take what we’ve built today and add to it,” said chief executive Steve Munford in an interview with The Logic.

Founded in 2011, Trulioo’s platform provides real-time identity-verification through an API integration. Its marketplace contains more than 400 data sources, and the company’s clients include global banks, tech giants and Fortune 500 companies.

The firm doubled its revenue in the past year, and opened offices in Dublin, Austin and San Diego, according to a press release.

Trulioo plans to use the funds to expand its ability to build and improve its product, said Munford. That includes investing in research and development and accelerating hiring. About 240 people work at Trulioo now, and it plans to add roughly 125 staff by the end of the calendar year. Trulioo also plans to open an office in Asia, and will look for potential mergers and acquisitions, said Munford, though “there’s nothing imminent.”

Trulioo will work with TCV, the Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that led the round, on its growth strategy. The round also included some of Trulioo’s previous investors, including Amex Ventures and Citi Ventures.

Trulioo had raised $96.6 million prior to its Series D, including its $70-million Series C in 2019.

Since its founding in 1995, TCV has invested more than US$14 billion in technology companies, including Airbnb, Expedia, Facebook, Peloton and Zillow. It’s helped portfolio companies build teams, expand globally, manage acquisitions, and has taken 65 firms public, according to its website. Munford said Trulioo has no intention to go public. “I think this really was a declaration that we’re going to stay independent for the foreseeable future and we’re going to build something really special,” he said.

TCV general partner Jake Reynolds said in the release that the company is “thrilled to lead Trulioo’s landmark investment to further their goal of building an end-to-end identity platform.” He will join the company’s board of directors along with Amol Helekar, TCV’s principal. No one from the firm was available for an interview prior to publication.

TCV has made several investments in Canadian companies, including Wealthsimple and Clio, according to PitchBook. There’s been increased interest in Canadian private tech firms lately, with the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association recording a record-breaking first quarter this year for VC funding in the country. The aggressive US$65-billion asset manager Tiger Global, for example, has participated in three Canadian deals this year, all in May.

Trulioo’s funding announcement comes as the number of Vancouver tech unicorns has grown quickly this year. Legaltech firm Clio raised US$110 million in its Series E at the end of April, reaching a US$1.6-billion valuation. (TCV had invested in Clio prior to that round.) Dapper Labs, the company behind CryptoKitties that rose to success on NBA blockchain collectibles, is reportedly fundraising at a valuation of more than US$7.5 billion. In late March, GeoComply, a geolocation and compliance tech firm, announced its first two institutional investors; PitchBook estimated its valuation to be US$1 billion as of March 23. And in February, New York-based Diligent announced it would acquire Galvanize. The deal, worth US$1 billion according to PitchBook, was completed in early April.

Munford said he doesn’t like the term unicorn, but “it’s just really good to see so many tech companies reaching this milestone. That means that they’re going to be big in their industry and the chance of being yet another tech platform here in Canada or in Vancouver, I just think that’s wonderful to see.”

It’s a shift for a province where tech companies’ inability to scale up operations is an often-cited problem in the industry. In 2020, a group of 11 organizations in the province, including the BC Tech Association, joined forces to lobby the provincial and federal governments to fund the creation of a local version of the Ontario-based Scale-Up platform. 

While neither government specifically set aside money for that in their respective budgets, the B.C. NDP allocated $500 million for the InBC Strategic Investment Fund, which will support small- and medium-sized firms that could scale into high-growth companies.