BBVA investment fund Propel has led a $15 million financing round for Truora, a Colombian startup specializing in authentication.
Truora’s TruConnect platform allows companies to verify consumer identities through integration with WhatsApp. David Mort, general partner at Propel, remarked, “Truora has established itself as a go-to solution for identity verification and a key enabler for user acquisition. We see significant potential in their WhatsApp authentication capabilities to address pain points in the financial services sector and beyond, and we are excited to support Truora on this journey.”
Since its initial seed funding round in 2019, which raised $3.5 million, Truora has expanded its operations to more than nine countries, including Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Peru, and San Francisco, serving over 350 corporate clients.
Daniel Bilbao, CEO and co-founder of Truora, noted, “With WhatsApp penetration in Latin America at 80-90 percent—equating to around 550 million users—integrating our authentication products into WhatsApp opens up a potential market of $3.5 billion in the region.”
The new investment will be directed toward entering new markets in the U.S. and Europe, as well as expanding the team, which includes plans to hire over 50 women professionals from Mexico as part of a strategy to increase female representation in fintech. Currently, women comprise 60 percent of Truora’s management team.
Maite Muñiz, CPO and co-founder of the company, emphasized the importance of promoting female leadership in technology, stating, “Today, 45 percent of Truora’s team are women, and we aim to continue increasing this percentage.”