XConnect, a provider of world-class numbering intelligence mobile identity and fraud prevention services, and leading risk and identity specialists Honey Badger, have formed a strategic partnership designed to help enterprises, banks and payment platforms make more informed identity and fraud decisions by combining mobile network intelligence with real-world identity data.
Under the agreement, Honey Badger will integrate XConnect’s global Network APIs and mobile identity services into its risk and identity platform. XConnect will, in turn, incorporate Honey Badger’s proprietary identity datasets into its own portfolio, allowing its customers to combine know-your-customer intelligence with mobile network signals and services such as XConnect Pulse.
The partnership reflects a wider shift in the identity market away from reliance on individual APIs or isolated data checks. Instead, providers are increasingly looking to orchestrate multiple sources of information, applying the most relevant signals at different points in the customer journey.
This layered approach can enable a business to pre-qualify a prospective customer, enrich that initial assessment using trusted mobile network data and then apply additional identity checks where greater assurance is required. It could help companies improve fraud detection without necessarily introducing the same level of friction for every legitimate user.
“The industry has spent years talking about APIs,” explains Mark Harvey, Chief Identity Officer at XConnect. “We’re moving beyond the conversation. The Network API winners will be the organisations that know how to combine the right intelligence, from the right sources, at exactly the right moment.”
Network APIs are increasingly being positioned as a way for mobile operators to expose useful network-derived information to enterprises and developers. Identity services can draw on signals relating to the status, ownership and behaviour of a mobile number, helping organisations assess whether the person behind a transaction or account is likely to be genuine.
However, a network signal alone rarely provides a complete answer. The XConnect and Honey Badger partnership aims to place those signals alongside broader identity information, creating a fuller picture of risk and trust.
Harvey adds: “This partnership proves what’s possible when two specialists bring genuinely different solutions to the table. Together we’re delivering something the market simply hasn’t had before. Richer intelligence. Better decisions. More confidence. If you think you’ve seen what’s possible with digital identity, try this. I think you’ll be surprised just how far our industry has moved on.”
For the telemedia sector, this ability to combine and orchestrate multiple identity signals is becoming increasingly important. Payment providers, messaging platforms, banks and digital-content services all need to authenticate users and identify suspicious activity, but excessive verification can increase abandonment and damage conversion rates.
Matt Salisbury, CEO and Founder of Honey Badger, says: “At Honey Badger, we care about solving real problems for our customers. That’s why we believe multiple data sources, orchestrated to maximise coverage and trust, are far more powerful than any single API.
“By combining our unique identity data with XConnect’s Global Network Intelligence, we’re moving customers beyond discrete data points to answering the identity and trust questions they’re asking.”
The partners say the resulting services will be agile and globally scalable. More significantly, the agreement demonstrates how specialist identity providers can combine complementary data rather than attempting to recreate the same capabilities independently. As fraud becomes more sophisticated, the competitive advantage may lie less in possessing one powerful API and more in knowing how to turn several different signals into a confident decision.
