With revenue soaring, Raleigh ID verification firm Global Data adds execs in global expansion

RALEIGH – As Global Data Consortium’s revenue skyrockets, the firm is pushing ahead with its world expansion by making strategic hires and adding to its advisory board.

This week, the Raleigh-based startup, which runs a global identity verification platform, confirmed its revenue continues to climb steadily – going from just over $1 million in 2016 to a projected $20 million or more in 2021.

“Just solid double and triple-digit growth year over year,” Charles Gaddy, its co-founder and chief strategy officer told TechWire.

It’s that kind of growth that attracted investors to pour roughly $3.5 million into the startup last July. In the wake of the pandemic, its share is only expected to balloon further as growth in the digital identity verification space accelerates, he said.

“[That] has increased our total addressable market. This has resulted in a growth cycle that previously took 36 months be consolidated to nine.”

Charles Gaddy

GDC provides ID verification for more than 68 countries around the world through a single application programming interface. It is now targeting several verticals, including fintech (specifically cryptocurrency, Forex, and investing); iGaming; and regtech, involving regulation.

“Our targets really are any verticals where meeting ID verification, compliance, and anti-money laundering regulations are essential.”

To keep up, the firm has tapped veteran execs to take over a few key positions.

Christopher Sundermeier, who previously served as the general counsel at Reputation.com, will now serve as GDC’s general counsel.

Meanwhile, Dan London will be vice president of marketing. He’s a veteran of multiple Raleigh-based startups, including Bandwidth, Ansible and ShareFile, both of which were acquired (Red Hat and Citrix) during his time there.

Finally, Markus Bergthaler is the new vice president or product strategy. Prior to GDC, he was the global director of programs at the Merchant Risk Council, and also worked in fraud departments at Wizards of the Coast, E. Breuniger, and Amazon.

Separately, the firm is also beefing up its Compliance Advisory Board (CAB) founded last year. It was set up to help others in the industry navigate compliance challenges with other global regulations.

Over the last six months, it’s expanded to include Abby-Gail Chaffatt, director of compliance at Patreon; Ben Gray, chief compliance officer at Square; and LeAnne Hoang, chief risk and compliance officer – Americas Region at Rapyd.

“As GDC looks to continue expanding its portfolio of customers globally, it is essential that we continue to make key hires across the organization,” said Bill Spruill, president and co-founder. “GDC is in the perfect spot to continue to meet the growth of the global digital economy by accurately verifying the identities of consumers and businesses regardless of country of origin.”

Spruill and Gaddy founded GDC back in 2011. At the time, they had just finished a stint working at software firm AddressDoctor – Spruill as chief operating officer and Gaddy as head of American partnerships.

Data provider Refinitiv and Village Capital are among its investors.