Jumio’s Great and Powerful Backer Revealed to be Andreessen Horowitz
Jumio, a while back, bagged a mega-round to help the mobile payment processor continue developing itself in a capital-intensive space. What wasn’t publicized at the time of its federal filing was who was giving Jumio more bucks.
It’s clear now; the company has a big boldface name backer in Andreessen Horowitz, and big plans for the future as well. The VC is the leader of the aforementioned round (of $25.5 million) and its Scott Weiss will join Jumio’s board of directors.
“Mobile is the fastest growing segment of e-commerce,” Weiss said to peHUB. “There are a lot of big players dancing around this space—this is not lost on anyone.”
According to Weiss’s blog, the company is on track to exceed a $100 million run rate this year.
Jumio CEO Daniel Mattes wouldn’t offer specific details, but he said the company will soon announce plans to partner with a major card issuer, and expects more retail partnerships as well. He’s particularly bullish on the mobile pay space (ok, well, who isn’t?) when he says he expects that by 2013, apps like Jumio can be installed on smartphones for immediate use—a potential point of inflection for the nascent biz.
Speaking of apps like Jumio: the company has developed a patent-pending Netswipe system through which credit card information is captured with a photograph, transferred and verified with improved security, Mattes said, while simultaneously eliminating the theft hazard of storing user numbers. Jumio also has a Netverify product for vendors.
He’ll use the capital infusion—which brings to about $32 million the total raised by Jumio—to make up to 10 hires, including California positions on the engineering and marketing side, and to launch a Singapore office and begin working to take market share in Asia, where smartphone payment technology has had quicker adoption rates. Weiss added that further IP buys are possible for the company.
Prior investors in Jumio include Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of Facebook, Peng T. Ong, partner at GSR Ventures and Vivek Ranadivé, who founded TIBCO. Mattes founded Jumio in 2010.



