Fama

Fama (Fama Technologies Inc.) provides AI-powered online and social media screening used in pre-employment and ongoing employee screening. Its platform reviews publicly available online activity to surface workplace-relevant behavioral signals such as harassment, hate speech, discriminatory or sexually explicit content, threats or acts of violence, potentially illegal activity, and fraud. Fama states its out-of-the-box solution detects eight types of misconduct across more than 30 languages and scans over 10,000 public online sources, including Facebook, Instagram and X (Twitter).

The product is positioned as a complement to traditional background checks, which the company says do not capture these signals. Reports exclude protected class information, and the company describes safeguards for candidates: reports are opt-in, candidates receive a copy before it is shared with the employer and can challenge findings within a defined timeframe, and candidates are not scored as "good" or "bad" — factual behavior data is reported and interpretation is left to the employer. Fama says it is designed to meet EEOC, FCRA, GDPR, PIPEDA and SOC 2 standards, and integrates with applicant tracking systems, HRIS platforms and background screening providers.

The company's leadership team includes founder and CEO Ben Mones, CTO Brendten Eickstaedt, CFO L.K. Tan, SVP of Operations Kristin Hazelton, VP of Growth Dan Bonnet, and VP of People Freesia Chen. Fama describes its staff as spanning developers, data scientists, investigators, sales, marketing and operations roles.

Founding story

Founder and CEO Ben Mones began his career in enterprise software startups, including a digital media analytics venture serving publishers and a CRM company for logistics and transportation, and earlier ran a whole-hog BBQ business. He has said the direct inspiration for Fama was hiring someone who appeared strong on paper but harassed a colleague within six months; social media content indicating problematic behavior was discovered only afterward. Mones has also described founding the company after a previous startup ran out of funding, a low point that made him willing to take the risk.

Business model

Fama sells an online screening platform to employers, background screening providers and HR technology partners, with demos and sample reports offered through a sales-led process. Screening reports are delivered directly to enterprise buyers and via integrations with ATS, HRIS and background check systems.

Traction

The company reports more than 45 million reports delivered, over 3,600 customers, and 99.5% data accuracy. Customers referenced include the Miami Dolphins and Academic Search (higher education executive search). A March 2026 report describes total capital raised of over $30M.

Latest developments

In March 2026, Fama Technologies was reported to have secured $10.0M in new funding, bringing total capital raised to more than $30M, with proceeds earmarked for AI development, product expansion and broader market presence. The company continues to publish research, webinars and case studies, including a Harvard Business School case study on social media background screening at Fama Technologies, and is actively hiring.