Baselayer

Company Overview

Baselayer is a financial technology company founded in New York City that provides automated business risk assessment and fraud prevention solutions for the financial sector. The company’s platform aims to eliminate B2B fraud and streamline know-your-business (KYB) processes for financial institutions.

Products Overview

Baselayer offers a comprehensive suite of products focused on business identity verification, risk assessment, fraud detection, and portfolio monitoring:

1. Business Identity Solutions - Provides instant verification of any registered business in America using legal name and address. Includes features like state secretary validation, IRS/EIN matching, sanctions screening, and business officer/registered agent detection.

2. Risk Solutions - Enables risk assessment of businesses by evaluating factors like industry, liens, legal history, web presence, revenue projections and transaction data. Uses AI and machine learning for analysis.

3. Fraud Solutions - Leverages a network of fraud data from financial institutions to detect banned businesses, credit stacking, and synthetic identities. Includes inquiry tracking to prevent fraud.

4. Portfolio Monitoring - Provides 24/7 automated monitoring of a financial institution’s business portfolio, with real-time alerts on important events, fraud indicators, credit stacking, and churn risks.

The platform aggregates data from various authoritative sources to provide a comprehensive view for business verification and risk assessment. It aims to automate manual review processes and detect fraud early in the onboarding process.

Founding Team

Baselayer was co-founded by:

• Jonathan Awad - Co-Founder & CEO
• Timothy Hyde - Co-Founder & CTO

Problem and Market Fit

Baselayer aims to solve key challenges faced by financial institutions in business onboarding and risk management:

1. Manual and time-consuming KYB processes that can take days or weeks
2. Difficulty in comprehensively verifying business identities across multiple data sources
3. Increasing B2B fraud that results in financial losses
4. Lack of real-time monitoring for ongoing risk assessment of business portfolios

The company positions its AI-powered platform as a solution to automate and streamline these processes, potentially saving institutions millions in fraud losses and operational costs.

Business Model

Baselayer operates on a B2B SaaS model, providing its platform and APIs to financial institutions. The company likely charges based on usage volume or as a subscription service.

Competitive Landscape

While specific competitors are not mentioned, Baselayer would compete with other KYB and business verification providers in the fintech space. The company aims to differentiate itself through its comprehensive data aggregation, AI-powered analysis, and network effects from its fraud data sharing among financial institutions.

Customers

Baselayer’s website lists several prominent financial and technology companies as clients/partners, including:

• JP Morgan
• UBS
• Stash
• Airbnb
• Lazard
• Cisco
• Rho
• Torpago
• LoanPro

Funding and Runway

The company has received funding from several prominent venture capital firms, including:

• Torch Capital
• Afore Capital
• Founder Collective
• Gilgamesh Ventures
• Kleiner Perkins
• Picus Capital

However, specific funding amounts or the company’s current runway are not disclosed in the available information.

Relevant News

No specific recent news items are mentioned in the provided material. The company appears to be in a growth phase, expanding its product offerings and client base in the financial services sector.

In summary, Baselayer is positioning itself as a comprehensive business identity and risk management platform for financial institutions, leveraging AI and a network of data to automate processes and prevent fraud. The company has gained traction with major financial clients and VC backing, though more details on its current scale and growth metrics are not publicly available.