The past couple of years has been outstanding for niche startups in need of outside funding. According to Crunchbase, investors funded just shy of $330 billion in 2021. Those seeking late-stage funding made out especially well, netting $208 billion — nearly twice as much as figures from 2020. One prime example of a hot ticket business steaming up the investment world is Truework.
This pattern suggests a few facts. First up, investors are eager to put their money into innovations. Secondly, The New York Times was right with its prediction that startup passion, particularly aimed at tech startups, wouldn’t wane anytime soon. And third, that already-successful companies shouldn’t be shy about conducting additional funding rounds.
After proving its merit and going through both series A and series B funding, Truework returned again. As a result, its founders have been able to capture $50 million in series C funding in 2022.
Yet it’s not just Truework’s big haul that makes it worth an equally big mention. It’s the fact that like most startups, their success came from identifying a problem and simplifying it — namely, employment verification. This issue was unknown to many, and few were addressing it. Their solution secures sensitive identity information for consumers and strengthens company relationships with applicants.
Truework’s Entry Into the Income and Employment Verification World
When you or anyone else tries to get a job, the interviewer will ask about your work history. Everyone expects this. Prospective employers ask about everything from past employers to the approximate dates you started and left.
At that point, your would-be employer has two choices. The employer can take you at your word or can do a lot of legwork to verify that your work history is accurate.
Obviously, no one would recommend the first option. A ResumeLab survey from 2020 shows why. It seems that 27% of professionals admit to lying about their job experience when interviewing. That means there’s a one-in-four chance that an applicant’s work history might not be on the up and up.
So the second option is the way to go. However, it can have several challenges including holding up the process and putting candidate information at risk as it’s being passed between third parties.
This is where Truework steps into the picture. With its proprietary technology and vast system of networks, Truework can verify people’s employment and income records. All employers have to do is log onto the one-stop platform and input candidate information. Candidates are then asked if they’re comfortable with their work history being released to the inquiring employer. If so, Truework starts the verification process and delivers the results to the employer.
Improving Hiring Processes for Both Sides of the Recruitment Experience
It’s worth noting that Truework’s inherent benefits aren’t limited to protecting employers from applicant fraud. Truework’s innovative solution protects new hires, too. Some of the most vital advantages to Truework involve tighter data security, sizable time savings, and more streamlined worker onboarding.
For instance, Truework uses the same secure HTTPS using TLS 1.2 that financial institutions depend upon to keep data safe. Additionally, because employees must authorize the release of their data, they stay in control every step of the way. With high-level threat scans conducted 24/7, Truework ensures all data remains stored and is only available in need-to-know situations.
This high degree of protection doesn’t slow down Truework’s speediness, though. About four-fifths of all pre-employment verification checks are completed within a tight 48-hour window turnaround. Truework’s processes are so fast thanks to its relationships with more than 150 payroll providers as well as the ability to tap into a database of 35+ million employee records.
How does this help onboarding? If you’ve ever gone through a rocky time trying to onboard as a new employee, you know how frustrating a long wait can be. The more rapidly your background credentials are verified, the more rapidly you can start working — and earning.
As a Harvard Business Review article notes, just 12% of workers would give their employers a good grade for onboarding. So there’s lots of room for improvement on all fronts, starting with speedier income and employment verification.
Beyond Work Verification: Truework’s Entry Into Other Markets
As with many startups, Truework had to prove its worth initially. It did, and it began to gain a following. Why the need for a series C funding round, then? The company is in a massive growth mode.
It turns out that pre-employment verification data isn’t just valuable for employers. The same type of information can be quite valuable to mortgage lenders and other consumer-lending businesses, not to mention property managers.
Think back to the last time you applied for a large loan or tried to rent an apartment through a property management company. You probably had to give some kind of information about your salary and possibly where you worked. Who knows who saw the information you submitted, especially if it was written on paper? Many people could have manually transferred your private data before it was used to determine if you were a good or questionable loan applicant or renter.
Truework’s system enables a more secure digital transfer of private records. In the end, lenders, property managers, and other third parties get the verification they need right away. This allows them to avoid the arduous process of verification and increase their conversion rates. All the while, the system keeps sensitive individual information away from prying eyes. It is used only for the intended purposes.
Truework: A True Fintech Standout
What does the future hold for Truework? According to co-founder and CEO, Ryan Sandler, the company will use its influx of $50 million to support planned product development, additional hiring, and foster the company’s continued growth as an efficient, secure, and user-friendly platform for income and employment verification.
In the meantime, Truework is continuing to add more companies to its lineup of clients. To date, some of its headliners include Fairway Independent Mortgage, Caliber Home Loans, Octane, and Carvana. Encompass has also become a partner, as loan processing teams can verify any U.S employee through Truework.
Ultimately, Truework serves as an inspiration for entrepreneurs and founders just entering the waters of seeking capital investments. When you can solve one problem well, you can put yourself on a course to do far more than you set out to do — and investors won’t be shy about putting their faith and dollars into helping you succeed.
Image Credit: Edmond Dantès; Pexels; Thank you!
Brad Anderson
Editor In Chief at ReadWrite
Brad is the editor overseeing contributed content at ReadWrite.com. He previously worked as an editor at PayPal and Crunchbase. You can reach him at brad at readwrite.com.
