MetaMap (formerly Mati), a Mexico-based identity and payments verification platform, raised a USD70m Series B from Alameda Research, Tribe Capital and Craft Ventures. Tribe Capital led a USD13.5m Series A in October 2020; Spero Ventures invested in May 2020. 

(Contxto) – In 2020 we told you about Mati, a cybersecurity startup originally from California; but based in Mexico City. That year, the company closed an investment round with Spero Ventures for an undisclosed amount. Kima Ventures, Dorm Room Fund and Blackhorn Ventures also participated.

Now, Meti has raised US$70 million in a Series B led by Alameda Research, Tribe Capital and Craft. Along with this investment, Meti announced its name has changed: it is now called MetaMap.

Founders Filip Victor and Amaury Soviche created Mati in 2016 trying to create “a version of VISA for the 21st century”. By this, they mean that they wanted to avoid fraud when using financial services. To achieve this, the company verified the identity of users through AI and relied on government databases to perform background checks.

Now that it is called MetaMap, the company has changed its verification process. It argues that human identity goes far beyond one-dimensional scores such as IQ; standardized test results; or even a credit history score. It is not that these scores are incorrect, but that they don’t define a person’s identity.

This is why MetaMap creates a “map” that goes beyond these scores so that each individual can have less biased access to financial services.

MetaMap assesses personal merits divided into three categories: compliance (biometric data, government information, official ID); financial (bank data, credit history, tax history); and employment (psychometric, social media profiles, criminal history).

The founders of the company trust that services such as MetaMap will also be very useful in the metaverse – that anticipated technological platform of virtual universes – since they could place users on the digital map. This gives them visibility: perhaps for the first time.

Currently, people with problems in their credit history, little access to basic education or who live in highly marginalized areas have a tough time when applying for online loans or credit. If their identities were verified by the sum of other merits, as proposed by MetaMap, they could more easily gain access to such financial services.