Konfir, a B2B SaaS platform that provides instant employment and income verifications has raised a £1.6m pre-seed round led by Triple Point ventures, who is backing founder Chris Milligan for a second time.
The round has also been supported by a long list of prominent UK tech angels, including Michael Pennnington, co-founder of Gumtree, Duncan Tatton-Brown who has sat on the board’s of Zoopla, Trainline and Loveholidays, along with executives from Stripe.
Konfir is the first business of its kind in Europe, focused on background checking. It has established promising traction for a business of its stage and has assembled an impressive management and advisory team of verification industry experts. Steve O’Neil, co-founder of Security Watchdog (acquired by Capita Plc), now Konfir’s Head of Growth, has already helped the company build demand for up to 1 million verifications in the coming year.
Employment verifications are required in various consumer life events such as moving jobs or homes. Companies and individuals face an administrative headache having to prove on average either 3 or 5 years of work history. This sensitive employment data is currently shared unsecurely via email, PDF or on phone calls. “The referencing process can take weeks to complete and can significantly hold up the hiring process. What Konfir is doing via API should speed everything up by providing direct access to history that exists in other systems, instead of having to wait for email replies from previous employers” said Oliver Harris, Global Managing Director – Page Outsourcing.
Konfir helps all sides; those requesting verifications, the employers and the individuals themselves. Following on from the success of new companies like Truework, Citadel and more historically Equifax in North America, Konfir is launching in the UK at a time where changes to employment policy are being introduced, allowing trusted digital identities to be used to conduct pre-employment checks and prove right to work. With Konfir now automating employment verification, the final hurdle of digital and near real-time recruitment can be overcome.
Chris Milligan, CEO, Konfir, said: “It’s great to be working with Seb and the team at Triple Point again. I am pleased they have chosen to support Konfir as I’ve always found them helpful. We’ve got the makings of an exciting company here and our team is really passionate about fixing this archaic process. We’ve all been in a position at some point where we’ve had to deal with proving our employment and as we emerge from the pandemic it’s really critical to speed up this process, and in turn the economy. Clearly there is a lot of opportunity given the rate of movement in the job market and pent up demand.”
Seb Wallace, Investment Manager, Triple Point Ventures, said: “Konfir is solving a major problem for employers and staff across Europe, at a time when hiring and retention is a key priority for businesses across the continent. Chris is an experienced founder and an expert in the HR and employment sector. Having partnered with him in his previous business, we are excited to work together again on Konfir and the promising opportunity it presents. Chris’s vision is compelling and our decision to support Konfir is testament to our faith in Chris and his proven ability as an entrepreneur.”
