Startups

Truework Raises $2.9M To Battle Equifax

Truework, an employment and income verification startup, announced its official launch yesterday, along with $2.9 million in seed funding. Keith Rabois of Khosla Ventures led the seed round. Founder Collective, Menlo Ventures, and Crunchfund also participated in the round.

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Founded by Ryan Sandler, Ethan Winchell, and Victor Kabdebon in 2017, Truework aims to bring transparency and data protection to the often opaque credit and income verification process.

When you apply for a new job, open a bank account, or apply for an apartment, organizations and landlords can reach out to your current or past employers to verify employment and credit. This process means supplying the organization with personal information like your social security number, driver’s license number, and past addresses. Typically, this information is shared without your knowledge. Most employers, looking to bypass the tediousness of sending faxes and approving outside organizations, outsource verification work.

The Work Number, an Equifax subsidiary that competes with Truework, claims that 75 percent of Fortune 500 companies use its employment and income verification services. However, Equifax’s cybersecurity breach in September 2017, which may have compromised the information of 143 million U.S. citizens, has shed light on the mishandling of personal data in the space. The breach has worried some customers.

Truework boasts an increased focus on data security using bank-like data encryption practices, monitored data centers, and data threat screening. The startup also claims that its software cuts through the red tape and busy work of verifying employment and income, giving more agency to HR departments and employees. After a business links its payroll and HR processes with the Truework platform, the startup verifies ongoing income and employment requests. Following verification, Truework will send an approval email to the employee before releasing their information. The email includes the data that is being shared and an option to request changes from HR.

Truework is looking to recruit from companies that are dissatisfied with lack of transparency and agency in the verification processes. According to the company, it launched a pilot with customers including Trunk Club, The Motley Fool, and Figure Eight. Truework plans to use its freshly raised seed capital to scale its product.

Illustration Credit: Li Anne Dias

Editorial Update: A previous version of this article reported that Truework raised $2.8 million, it has since been updated to reflect that it raised $2.9 million. 

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