The archive · Developer & Business Tools · Product decision · 2014–2018
Checkr raises $100M to scale API background checks beyond the gig economy
Checkr, born at Deliv, runs 1M background checks a month for 10,000+ customers and raises $100M Series C led by T. Rowe Price (~$150M total).
Checkr
What the business is
Checkr runs criminal-record, driving, employment and education background checks for employers, returning results in as little as 24 hours through an API; its customers span gig platforms like Uber, Lyft, Instacart and GrubHub and enterprises like Adecco and Allstate.
Starting capital：US$100M Series C led by T. Rowe Price, joined by Accel and Y Combinator, announced 2018-04-12; total funding roughly US$150M.
How it started
Checkr was born when software engineers Daniel Yanisse and Jonathan Perichon worked together at same-day delivery startup Deliv and saw background checks bottlenecking on-demand hiring. US alternative employment had grown from 10.1% of workers in 2005 to 15.8% in 2015, and digital platforms kept connecting people with services — someone had to vet the workers quickly.
What happened
Checkr grew to 180 employees and, by April 2018, ran one million checks a month for more than 10,000 customers anchored by Uber, Instacart and GrubHub, with Lyft, Thumbtack and Warby Parker newly onboard, plus Adecco and Allstate as it pushed outside the gig economy. On 12 April 2018 it announced US$100M in Series C funding led by T. Rowe Price with Accel and Y Combinator — roughly US$150M total. CEO Yanisse said pricing was pay-per-applicant but Checkr was becoming 'more like a SaaS' business, with tools such as a Positive Adjudication Matrix meant to reduce hiring bias; asked whether revenue was near a US$100M run rate, he said reporters were 'in the ballpark', and he pointed toward an eventual IPO and recurring revenue.
How it ended up
As of the 2018-04-12 announcement Checkr was live and scaling — 180 people, one million checks per month, 10,000+ customers — with fresh capital to move beyond the gig economy; later outcomes are not established in this source.
Background
Checkr is a San Francisco company that runs employment background checks — criminal records, driving records, education verification, references and drug screening — and delivers them in as little as 24 hours through an API. By April 2018 it said it ran one million checks per month for more than 10,000 customers, anchored by Uber, Instacart and GrubHub, with Lyft, Thumbtack and Warby Parker newly signed and enterprises like staffing giant Adecco and insurer Allstate coming onboard.
The company was born when software engineers Daniel Yanisse and Jonathan Perichon worked together at same-day delivery startup Deliv and saw background checks bottlenecking on-demand hiring. The numbers were on their side: so-called alternative employment arrangements grew from 10.1% of US employees in 2005 to 15.8% in 2015, and digital platforms kept connecting people needing services with workers willing to provide them. Someone had to vet those workers at platform speed.
The bet evolved with the company. Checkr's 180-person team first sold per-check pricing to gig platforms, then pushed beyond: Adecco and Allstate were recent wins as Checkr moved into mainstream employment. Yanisse described a suite of SaaS tools — including a Positive Adjudication Matrix to reduce hiring bias — making Checkr 'more like a SaaS' business. He declined to share revenue or valuation but suggested an eventual IPO, noting that public shareholders love recurring revenue; when asked whether revenue was near a US$100M run rate, he said 'you're in the ballpark.'
On 2018-04-12 Checkr announced US$100M in Series C funding led by T. Rowe Price, joined by earlier backers Accel and Y Combinator, bringing total funding to roughly US$150M. The round came with the usual caveat that background checks are not foolproof — the article noted the Uber driver who passed a check months before an attack in New York — and Yanisse's answer was that checks are not 'Minority Report': the job is to make the process faster, more efficient, more accurate and more fair.
What has to be true
- The on-demand economy created a bottleneck the founders had felt at Deliv: hiring needed fast, reliable vetting, and incumbents could not keep up.
- API-first, per-check pricing matched how gig platforms buy, and 24-hour turnaround made speed itself the product.
- The same engine could move from gig platforms to Adecco and Allstate — a wedge into a much larger mainstream employment market.
- Recurring SaaS tools and an IPO trajectory turned an episodic service into durable revenue, which is what a $100M round from T. Rowe Price was pricing.
What can be applied
Infrastructure under a fast-growing market pays: Checkr made a commodity compliance task fast and developer-friendly, and the gig-economy boom compounded it into a ~$100M-run-rate business.
Aftermath
As of 2018-04-12 Checkr was live and scaling: one million background checks per month, more than 10,000 customers, 180 employees and roughly US$150M raised. The Series C, led by T. Rowe Price, was earmarked for expanding beyond the on-demand and gig economy into mainstream employers such as Adecco and Allstate, and for building out the SaaS product suite around per-check pricing. Yanisse declined to disclose revenue or valuation, saying reporters were 'in the ballpark' with a ~US$100M run-rate guess; no later outcome is established in this source.
Sources
- Background checks pay for Checkr, which just rang up $100 million in new funding
- Background checks pay for Checkr, which just raised $100M — Hacker News
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe what you are building, and see who is betting on the same thing.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card