GVK scion Keshav Reddy’s Equal ropes in Justice BN Srikrishna to head advisory board amid data protection push

Equal, an identity verification and data-sharing startup founded by GVK scion Keshav Reddy, has set up an advisory board led by retired Supreme Court judge justice BN Srikrishna to steer its efforts in ethical data-sharing practices.

Justice Srikrishna, who has been appointed the board chairman, is also the architect of India’s data protection framework.

The development comes at a time when the government has released the draft rules for the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act for public consultation, signalling a stronger regulatory push for data security and privacy.

“As chairman of the advisory board, I look forward to collaborating on solutions that balance individual rights and aspirations, economic growth and stability of the society,” Justice Srikrishna said.

The board also includes former RBI deputy governors Jagdish Capoor, Rakesh Mohan and Anand Sinha. Former UIDAI chairman J Satyanarayana, former MeitY secretary Ajay Prakash Sawhney, founding CEO of NCDEX PH Ravikumar, HR expert Anitha Ramachandran and fintech expert and adviser Sunil Kulkarni have also been named as board members.

New data protection rules pose compliance and operational hurdles for fintech startups

The board will guide Equal and its recently-backed firm OneMoney, an account aggregator, in advancing secure, consent-driven data-sharing practices, ensuring compliance with evolving regulatory norms and promoting ethical standards.

“Their (Equal) commitment to enabling secure, compliant and consent-driven data sharing aligns closely with my work in safeguarding privacy and fostering trust in technology based democratisation of products and services,” Srikrishna said.

“Together, we aim to create frameworks that not only drive innovation but also set global benchmarks for ethical data usage and business practices.”

About Equal

Founded in 2022 by Keshav Reddy and former Swiggy engineering director Rajeev Ranjan, Equal allows businesses streamline know-your-customer (KYC) requirements, fraud prevention and regulatory compliance by integrating more than 50 identity databases and over 40,00 API providers.

Its clients, per firm’s website, include WeWork, L&T, TVS, Aragen, Emri, Achala, Hetero among others.

In August 2024, the firm made an undisclosed strategic investment in account aggregator platform OneMoney, adding consent-based financial data sharing service for financial institutions .

Together, they claim to have enabled over 75 million monthly transactions and service over 250 clients.

The startup raised a Series A round of $10 million at a post-money valuation of $80 million in November. The round was led by Prosus Ventures, along with Tomales Bay Capital and Reddy himself. It also saw participation from Blume Ventures, DST Global Partners, Gruhas, Valiant Capital and Quona Capital.

Binny Bansal, Karan Adani, Kunal Shah, Kunal Bahl, Nikhil Kamath and Parth Jindal have also placed their bets on the firm.

Equal operates in a highly competitive and rapidly growing identity verification and fraud detection market in India.

As reported by Moneycontrol, the space is thriving with new-age firms developing cutting-edge tools and algorithms to support banks, fintechs, NBFCs, e-commerce platforms, gaming apps and even matrimonial services in identifying and preventing fraud.

These include players such as Perfios, IDfy, Signzy, Bureau and Hyperverge, as well as startups such as Digitap, Surepass, BeFiSc, and Ongrid