Identity-tech company Infutor acquired for $225 million

Infutor, whose technology helps companies verify the online identities of their customers, has been bought for $225 million.

The Oakbrook Terrace-based company has been growing fast since private-equity firm Norwest Venture Partners invested $40 million in 2016. Headcount has soared from about 30 to 150 people, including 85 in the Chicago area. Infutor was looking for an investor or strategic partner when it struck a deal to be acquired by Verisk, a publicly traded company that provides data and analytics to the insurance industry.

The company, which was started in 2003, will become a stand-alone division of Verisk and continue to be led by CEO Gary Walter. Verisk previously bought Jornaya, a 50-person company that operates in the identity space. Infutor specializes in anonymizing individual data for marketers. Its customers range from Equifax and Esri to Clarify Health and St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

Companies are scrambling to adapt to changing rules that make it harder to gather information about the online habits of customers and prospective customers. Tech giants such as Apple and Google are making it harder for advertisers to target their users. Facebook said the changes could cost the company, which now calls itself Meta, $10 billion in revenue.

Chicago-based TransUnion, which is best known for credit-score information, spent $3.1 billion last fall to acquire identity-verification company Neustar.

“Between Apple and Google and increased privacy concerns, people already were on the path to owning their own data and identity graphs,” Walter says. “Companies are responsible for their actions and their vendors’ actions.”

Walter estimates the U.S. market for identity resolution at $3.7 billion and will grow 15% to 20% annually for the next three to five years.

This story first appeared in our sister publication, Crain’s Chicago Business.