Digital addressing and location verification for emerging-market KYC
OkHi is a digital address collection and verification layer for emerging markets — turning "where someone lives" into a reliable, API-accessible credential. It replaces slow, agent-based proof-of-address checks with mobile-native verification using location signals and on-device workflows.
For banks, fintechs, and platforms, OkHi reduces KYC friction, improves fraud controls and collections, and unlocks access to services for people who don't have utility bills or formal addresses.
How proof-of-address infrastructure unlocks credit and logistics
Proof of address is the unglamorous credential that gates most financial services in emerging markets — open a bank account, borrow money, or get a delivery, and someone, somewhere, will ask for one. The incumbent workflow is a physical visit by an agent, sometimes weeks long. A digital proof-of-address API collapses that to seconds, which in turn unlocks instant onboarding, better credit scoring, and reliable logistics. This is exactly the kind of primitive we describe in What is Trust Worth? and the foundation of our Trust Infrastructure thesis.
Why LAVA invested in OkHi
Proof of address is a gatekeeper credential across emerging markets, and the incumbent workflow (physical visits) is structurally incompatible with modern onboarding at scale. OkHi turns a weeks-long compliance bottleneck into software.
This is core trust infrastructure: once embedded in regulated financial workflows, it becomes sticky, high-margin, and compounding — improving not only onboarding, but also credit performance, collections, and risk management for entire ecosystems.