TransUnion Dials Up Competitiveness With $24M Startup Investment

Credit checks, income checks, employment checks, all the grown-up money-related checks can strike fear into the heart of a prospective homebuyer, renter, job seeker or loan seeker.

But they’ve got to be done, and consolidation of those services provides a competitive advantage for any credit reporting agency.

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To that end, publicly held reporting giant TransUnion announced Wednesday it has invested $24 million in equity funding in San Francisco-based Truework to integrate the startup’s income and employment verification platform, according to the company.

What is Truework?

Founded in 2017, Truework is an income and employment verification platform. The company has now raised a total of $118.9 million in funding over six rounds, according to Crunchbase data. Truework is funded by 33 investors, including Sequoia Capital and Khosla Ventures.

In August, we reported that the company raised $50 million in a Series C. Chicago-based G Squared served as the round’s lead investor, according to Crunchbase data.

Whether this latest partnership could serve as a catalyst to a full-on acquisition of Truework by TransUnion remains to be seen. But it certainly puts the credit-reporting giant in a better position to compete with rival Equifax.

“TransUnion is a global leader in credit data and insights. Our partnership signals a new era for thousands of businesses and millions of consumers who will benefit from accurate and accessible income data paired with TransUnion’s deep product catalog,” said Ryan Sandler, CEO and co-founder of Truework, in a statement.

TransUnion also isn’t shy about acquisitions. The company has acquired 24 organizations, according to Crunchbase data. Its most recent was Verisk Financial for an undisclosed amount in February 2022.

And in the current market, an acquisition might be a startup’s best bet for success.