Certn

Market position

Certn describes itself as the #1-rated screening provider and cites a 4.7-star G2 rating from more than 200 businesses and an "easiest to use" G2 ranking. It states it is trusted by over 20,000 clients globally. External recognition includes three consecutive years on Deloitte Canada's Technology Fast 50, a 2nd place Technology Fast 50 (Canada) finish and 24th in the North American Technology Fast 500, selection as a KPMG Private Enterprise Tech Innovator in Canada, and inclusion in The Globe and Mail's 2021 Top Growing Companies. Its executive hires have come from incumbent screening vendors including Sterling and Accurate.

Certn positions against traditional screening vendors on speed (many checks completed in minutes rather than days, and reduced time-to-hire), transparency of turnaround times, elimination of manual follow-ups, breadth of global coverage from a single platform and dashboard, flexible deployment (standalone platform, API, or ATS/HRIS integration), usage-based pricing without minimums, and 24/7 support. Customers cited by the company reference lower cost versus alternative vendors and the ability to consolidate multi-region checks under one person instead of local staff.

Technology

The platform combines AI, machine learning and automation to run screening checks against global databases and return results, in many cases within minutes. It exposes a documented RESTful API for embedding checks into onboarding workflows, pre-built ATS/HRIS connectors, and a web dashboard for ordering and tracking checks. Compliance controls are built in to support screening across multiple jurisdictions.

Go-to-market

Certn goes to market through self-serve online sign-up for small and midsize businesses, a direct enterprise sales motion ("talk to an expert"), a developer-facing API, partner integrations with ATS/HRIS platforms such as Greenhouse, Lever and Workday, and partnership programs. It has invested in senior sales and marketing leadership, including a Chief Revenue Officer and regional VPs of Canada and US sales, and uses customer references, G2 ratings and awards recognition in its marketing.

Employers and organizations of all sizes — small and midsize businesses, enterprises, governments, multinationals and gig platforms — in sectors including retail, property management, technology, hospitality, staffing, construction, gig economy, manufacturing and transportation; landlords and property managers for tenant screening; and individual consumers seeking their own Canadian criminal record check.

Geography

Headquartered in Victoria, British Columbia, with a global customer base and stated screening coverage in all 195 countries. Regional websites address the US and EMEA markets, and the company operates a UK entity, Certn (UK) Ltd, formed from the rebranded Credence business. Leadership includes a VP for APAC, and the Credence and InterCheck acquisitions extended its presence in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

History

After its 2016 founding, Certn launched tenant screening for landlords and property managers in 2018 and online criminal record checks in 2019. It raised three rounds during 2020 — a seed round in February, a Series A in November, and a Series A+ in December — which together totalled CAD $43 million and were announced publicly in February 2021. In January 2022 it acquired Credence, a UK background check provider, to expand in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and also acquired InterCheck; the company's timeline records both acquisitions in 2022. In May 2022 Certn announced a CAD $65 million (USD $50 million) Series B led by B Capital, bringing total funding to $108 million at that time; the company's own timeline describes 2023 Series B funding of $80M to scale globally. Headcount grew from roughly 270 after the Credence acquisition to about 300 in mid-2022, and the company later cited a global team of over 400. On 21 August 2024 the Credence brand in the UK was renamed Certn, with the legal entity becoming Certn (UK) Ltd while contracts, VAT and company registration details remained unchanged.