Prior to this latest round, Checkr had raised just over $9 million from a long list of angel investors, as well as larger VCs like Google Ventures and Accel, with the latter leading the company’s previous round.

Normally, these companies would have to hire a team to compare potential hires’ identities against watch lists and criminal records....“With Checkr, that whole function has been reduced to an API,” Natarajan says. Instead of recreating something done better elsewhere, “You can dedicate 100% of your efforts to the 1% that is going to differentiate a product.”

Checkr's background reports can be ready anywhere between a few hours and a couple of days, though most are ready within 24 hours. Its background checks include address history, sex-offender searches, and social-security number verification, in addition to checking applicants' names against terrorist watch lists and crime databases. If a company is hiring drivers, Checkr can also do a driving record check.

A new company, Checkr, has raised $9 million in a Series A led by Accel to deal with one part of that equation: Background checks. It services the on-demand and sharing economy industries, billing itself as a “Stripe” for background checks.

“It’s a combination of the $4 billion [background check] market and the right technology approach,” said Accel Partners Partner Rich Wong, who led the Series A round. “I’d say 70% or so of the companies we invest in these days are all about software reducing inefficiencies and cutting expenses. Big data is finding patterns in things that humans can’t.”

The company has raised $9 million in funding led by Accel Partners, with Rich Wong joining the company’s board... Wong said Accel’s interest in Checkr was due to the company’s ability to provide an API in an industry that has been largely unchanged for several decades.

Checkr Inc ., a startup that expedites background checks on new hires and delivers them in bulk to businesses, has secured $9 million to expand.

With the rise of the on-demand economy, we are increasingly having to trust complete strangers. Checkr wants to help make this safer.

Checkr co-founder Daniel Yanisse on his business that simplifies the process of background checks.

Since launching in April, the company has been focused on serving the on-demand space and has signed on around 40 clients, including companies like Instacart, Doordash, and Shyp. With them on board, it is processing about 1,500 background checks a month, and growing that number by about 25 percent a week.