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Tech-savvy Quah Zheng Wei quit his job as a chartered accountant to teach himself how to code. But it was his experience as an accountant that made him interested in blockchain and how it can be used to verify documents. “What surprised me was that it was able to prove the capabilities of the technology in real time,” Quah told TechCrunch. “It was really scary because basically, accountants have to match certain transactions and make sure everything is against each other. It got my attention when I realized that technology could completely eliminate that activity.”
Founded in 2019 by Kwa, Singapore-based Acredifi, a provider of secure document authentication, today announced it has raised $7 million in Series A funding led by Globe Partners and SIG Venture Capital, with participation from return investors Pavilion Capital and Qualgro. So far, it has performed 12 million verifications on 2 million issued documents and served 600 users.
Accreditation began in partnership with educational organizations to prevent fake degrees and certifications. It then began expanding into other use cases, including corporate records and healthcare.
For example, during the outbreak, Acredify worked with the Ministry of Manpower and the Ministry of Health to create a system to verify COVID-19 records for employees to travel. It has also partnered with the Singapore Accounting and Corporate Governance Authority to transform their information infrastructure. This means that now every time a company is created, it receives a verified business profile that can be brought back to the blockchain.
“I think the fact that we’ve been able to generate that kind of commercial traction and adoption is something we’ve done really well,” Quah said.
Acknowledge on-board customers by first creating an identity on the blockchain (mainly using Ethereum). It creates a smart wallet or document store on the Ethereum network. It manages the private and public key for the client. It then draws data through dashboards or API integrations.
Other companies in the same space include Unifier, which partnered during the outbreak — to verify generated documents and read Unifier documents to customers. US startups like Trincic work with verifiable identity credentials, while New Zealand companies like MATTR are working with the country’s government to create digital identities and verifiable data.
Quah says the key difference between Accredify and other players is that “most of the use cases you see in the market are based on the pilot, which is proof of concept. When it comes to real business adoption, as well as scaling, I don’t think many companies have achieved what we have done, including creating a comprehensive system that has made the management of COVID-19 in Singapore seamless. “
Accredify has offices in Singapore and Australia, and plans to double its presence in the latter country by hiring more people. Quah said he is working on pilot programs with government agencies to expand into Japan.
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