Evidence-Led Founder Verification
The first filter of due diligence starts with founder verification.
Founder verification is still manual, slow, and often based on guesswork. Upload a pitch deck—we extract founder information, track record and claims, then perform evidence-based background verification and reference checks.
Source-backed evidence ledger + downloadable report · Worldwide · Results in minutes
Sanctions screening (US)
VerifiedOFAC Consolidated Screening List
US/UK background & financial-database screening
VerifiedLawfully available background records
Prior raise versus claimed
UnavailableSEC EDGAR
Patent ownership (founder)
VerifiedWorldwide patent registers
Patent similarity / overlap
FlaggedWorldwide patent search
Investor reference
PendingFounder-nominated referee
Angel Investors
Early-stage deal confidence
Accelerators
Stronger batches, lower risk
Venture Capital
Portfolio protection at scale
Government Funding
Accountability and transparent deployment
Non-Dilutive Funding
Verify eligibility and funding claims
Family Offices
Deeper people diligence for strategic capital
Corporate Venture Capital
Stronger founder intelligence for strategic investments
Private Equity
Verify the leaders driving growth and expansion
Equity Crowdfunding Platforms
Investor confidence through verified founder claims
The biggest risk in startup investing is not knowing the team
654
documented fraud cases against U.S. VC-backed startups, 2000–2023.
19%
more likely to later commit fraud — startups launched into hot markets with weak diligence.
2×
the fraud rate at startups whose boards the founders themselves control.
One unchecked founder can cost you millions.
Unverified founder can cost you reputation.
Save analyst manual scattered hours — verification in minutes.
Better founder verification. Better investment decisions.
raised $700M+
Regulatory & investor-fraud history
Elizabeth Holmes founded and led Theranos, which was later subject to SEC enforcement over alleged false and misleading statements about the company's technology, business and financial performance. Holmes was subsequently convicted of investor fraud, and the U.S. Department of Justice records her conviction and 2022 sentence.
raised $13M+
Fake CPA
Shiloh Luckey told investors she was a licensed CPA with deep tax and accounting experience. Federal prosecutors and the SEC say she was never licensed as a CPA.
raised $7M
Forged referee letters
Gökçe Güven is charged with aggravated identity theft for forging letters of support in other executives’ names. Prosecutors say she created fake email addresses, wrote the testimonials herself, and applied signatures the executives never authorized.
raised $85M+
Impersonated referee
To back a $40 million conversation with Goldman Sachs, an Ozy co-founder impersonated a YouTube executive on the diligence call. Goldman checked with YouTube. The executive had never been on the line. The raise died. The company collapsed.
taken public
False graduate degree
Anthony Capone told investors — and an SEC filing repeated — that he held an M.S. in computer science from Clarkson University. Clarkson said he never attended. He resigned as CEO. The company later paid $12.5 million to settle investor claims over the misrepresented background.
raised $6.7M
Forged Cambridge PhD
Jon Lee sent investors a Cambridge doctorate certificate. Cambridge had no record of him. He admitted the PhD was fake. He is the same person who, two decades earlier and under another name, was dropped from a prior company after fabricated awards and fellowships.
01 / 06
Founder Verification — Beyond Identity.No ID required. Built for Investment Focused Verification.
Investment-focused signals, not raw data.
Authoritative sources across jurisdictions.
Deep IP discovery and ownership verification.
Social media and public-signal analysis for investment risk.
Sources: Founder-provided resume · LinkedIn · Public professional sources
Sources: UK Companies House · GLEIF · Canada Corporations · Ireland CRO · Spain BORME · Australia ASIC · French SIRENE · 190+ jurisdictions
Sources: Interpol · FBI · Global criminal databases · Insolvency registers · Financial regulators · SEC · CSA · IOSCO · FCA · ESMA · BaFin · AMF · FINMA · CONSOB · CNMV · CySEC · MAS · ASIC · SEBI · 175+ regulatory sources across 168 countries
Sourced · Audit trailed · With run summary
AI breaks each material statement into a claim and analyzes it against the founder's overall profile, completed checks and retrieved evidence, then tags every claim Likely or Unlikely with its reasoning, confidence and the sources considered.
Sources: OFAC · UN Security Council · EU · HM Treasury · Interpol · FBI · World Bank · ADB · AIIB · IDB · AfDB · EBRD · EIB · CDB · IOSCO
Sources: SEC · CSA · FCA · ESMA · BaFin · AMF · AFM · FINMA · CONSOB · CNMV · CySEC · Japan FSA · MAS · HKMA · CSRC · SEBI · ASIC · FSCA · IOSCO and 175+ regulatory sources across 168 countries
Sources: USPTO · CIPO · WIPO Patentscope · Google Patents · CNIPA · India IPO · TMview · Semantic Scholar · Google Scholar
Analyze publicly available founder activity across:
Signals reviewed
Every attributed signal carries evidence, source, date, reliability and attribution confidence.
AI analysis of founder-provided information — not independent verification.
Sources: Founder-provided information · LinkedIn · Pitch deck · Resume
Track-record, leadership & relationship insights. Founder-initiated reference requests.
Pay as you go
First verification
Free
Verify one founder in a startup, on us
Every report is a full Standard Check.
Single founder
$99
Each additional founder after your free check
Every report is a full Standard Check.
Active Investor
$220/month
Accelerators & programs
For incubators, accelerators, venture studios, university accelerators, government innovation agencies, and grant programs.
Cohort monthly
$999/month
Per cohort
$4,900one-time
Every report is a full Standard Check.
Supporting evidence found through the available checks.
Information that may warrant investor attention.
The check could not be completed.
Not completed yet — for example, a reference awaiting a reply.
Hypothetical sample — no real person or company
The people, company and findings below are fictional. The report structure, verdicts, evidence treatment and limitations mirror the production Evidence Ledger.
Background, financial and regulatory checks
Sanctions screening (US)
No attributable match returned for the confirmed sample identity.
Source · OFAC Consolidated Screening List
Sanctions screening (Canada)
No attributable match returned for the confirmed sample identity.
Source · Canadian autonomous sanctions list
US/UK background & financial-database screening
No attributable record returned in the databases available for the searched jurisdictions.
Source · Lawfully available background records
Regulatory & Securities Enforcement
No attributable enforcement record returned.
Source · Securities and regulatory registers
Global watchlist screening
No attributable global watchlist record returned.
Source · Global watchlists
Founder sanctions screening
No attributable sanctions record returned.
Source · Official sanctions lists
Founder PEP screening
No attributable politically exposed person record returned.
Source · PEP registers
Founder adverse media
A same-name article was excluded after location and employment details contradicted this founder.
Source · Public news and web sources
Founder fitness & probity
No attributable fitness-and-probity finding returned.
Source · Regulatory registers
Founder bankruptcy & insolvency
No attributable personal insolvency record returned in covered registers.
Source · Insolvency registers
Press coverage
Two hypothetical public items consistently connect the sample founder and company.
Source · Public news and web sources
Prior raise versus claimed
The stated seed round was not confirmed by a public filing; absence is not proof it did not occur.
Source · SEC EDGAR
IP verification and publications
Patent ownership (founder)
Illustrative patent-family records matched the sample founder and company names.
Source · Worldwide patent registers
Patent assignment / chain of title
The illustrative assignment trail is continuous from the sample inventor to the sample company.
Source · Patent assignment registers
Patent similarity / overlap
Related records were found for review; this is not a freedom-to-operate or patentability opinion.
Source · Worldwide patent search
Trademark ownership (founder)
Illustrative live and pending marks matched the company name.
Source · Trademark registers
Publications and citations
Two illustrative publications matched on name, field and career timeline.
Source · Academic publication indexes
LinkedIn and founder-provided records
Education history
Education was extracted from the founder-provided professional profile.
Source · Founder-provided LinkedIn archive
Employment history
Current and past employment were extracted with role dates.
Source · Founder-provided LinkedIn archive
Certifications
One certification was extracted and kept separate from independent evidence.
Source · Founder-provided LinkedIn archive
Founder-provided patents
The patent claim was extracted for comparison with patent-register results.
Source · Founder-provided LinkedIn archive
Founder-provided publications
Two publication claims were extracted for comparison with academic indexes.
Source · Founder-provided LinkedIn archive
Founder-provided skills
Material technical skills were extracted for founder-market-fit analysis.
Source · Founder-provided LinkedIn archive
Startup Company Verification (KYB)
Company identity and standing
An illustrative active company record matched the submitted legal name and jurisdiction.
Source · Official company registers
Officers and registered address
Founder role and registered address are shown exactly as the illustrative record publishes them.
Source · Official company registers
Founder Claim Corroboration (AI Analysis)
Award claim
The illustrative award is consistent with the sample evidence.
Source · Illustrative awarding-body evidence
Funding claim
Illustrative coverage supports a raise, but the published amount differs from the deck.
Source · Illustrative press evidence
Customer claim
The private customer relationship cannot be independently verified from public evidence.
Source · Public web and press search
Professional History Deep Dive
Current director role
An illustrative active director role at Acme Robotic Inc. is corroborated by name and country.
Source · Official officer records
Earlier company role
A same-name officer record lacks another matching field and remains a name-only match.
Source · Official officer records
Social Risk Intelligence
Public-profile attribution
Public profiles were analysed only after name, company, country and timeline corroboration.
Source · Attributed public profiles and coverage
Public-claim consistency
One interview gives a different founding year and is surfaced for investor review.
Source · Attributed public interview
Founder-declared information and references
Founder submission and disclosures
Founder-provided information remains clearly separated from independently sourced evidence.
Source · Founder submission
Professional reference
A response was received and is presented as testimony, not independent verification.
Source · Founder-nominated referee
Investor reference
Request sent; no response received at the sample report date.
Source · Founder-nominated referee
Every report is downloadable as a PDF
evifound
In a Few Clicks
Upload pitch deck / business plan
Founder gets email to add information
Automated verification and cross-checking
Receive evidence-backed report
Work and collaborate for founder assessment with investment team
Share with investment committee as added proof with investment memo
Come back anytime for reassessment for any follow-on investment
Capital + reputation at risk
Millions
Cost to verify
$49–$99
evifound
SearchCross-checkVerifyEvidence
A downloadable, source-backed report in minutes. Every claim linked to its evidence. Your first check is free.
