Identification and credentialing startup Evident ID Inc. has raised $14 million for hiring, product development and growing its customer base, CEO David Thomas said.
The raise was led by Forté Ventures LP, an Atlanta-based venture capital firm with investments in local companies including supply chain startup Verusen and retail marketing startup Springbot. New Hampshire-based Alumni Ventures and LGBTQ-focused investment syndicate Gaingels also participated in the round.
The latest investment brings the company’s total financing to $42.8 million, according to previous reporting by Atlanta Inno. In 2019, the company raised $20 million in a Series B round led by Aspect Ventures to enhance its product. It raised $8.8 million in 2017 from multiple firms in addition to Mike Potts, an angel investor and CEO of AirDefense.
The company will expand both its staff and number of clients following the investment. It has around 150 customers, which include Airbnb and WAG! It plans to double that within a year. It has 55 employees across the U.S. and will add up to 15 within a year with hires in sales and marketing.
Evident ID helps businesses verify and evaluate the insurance of third parties, prospective employees or franchisees. Its service allows businesses to know who they are registering, hiring or onboarding.
Sectors with the highest demand for the company’s services are retail franchises, food service, construction and transportation, Thomas said. Following the raise, the company plans to add specialized features for the financial and real estate sectors to grow its client base within those industries.
Companies are increasingly using third parties such as suppliers, partners or vendors to do work for them, which Thomas says has increased demand for his company’s services, so its customers know that those third parties meet their requirements, have the right amount of insurance and are valid.
The credential management market, an industry that is used to monitor business processes to decrease risk, was valued at $833 million last year and is projected to reach $2.5 billion by 2030, according to research firm Verified Market Research.
In early 2020, the company moved its office to the Resurgens Plaza located in Buckhead. That space is used for a subset of employees while it remains remote-first. It hires across the U.S. with a large set of employees in Poland, which Thomas says gives the company a presence with the European Union.
The company was founded by Thomas, a former vice president of solutions and managed services at Motorola Solutions Inc, in 2016. He saw an opportunity with how it was difficult for companies to build their own credentialing programs.
