What Middesk does

Middesk is a business identity verification platform founded in 2018 and headquartered in San Francisco, with a secondary office in New York. The company automates Know Your Business (KYB) verification, fraud detection, underwriting, and business registration workflows for U.S. banks, fintechs, lenders, payments platforms, payroll providers, and marketplaces. Its underlying architecture aggregates 400+ government and authoritative data sources, structures them into a continuously refreshed source of truth, and layers a proprietary business identity graph that maps ownership networks, shared people, and related entities to expose fraud rings and synthetic identities. AI capability is delivered through "Middesk Agents," an Agent in the Loop infrastructure comprising Orchestrator Agents and Specialist Agents for TIN, address, people, and OFAC/watchlist resolution, alongside purpose-built ML models trained on years of compliance analyst decision data.

The platform exposes its capabilities via REST and GraphQL APIs and a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, allowing both enterprise engineering teams and third-party AI agents to query verification data autonomously. Middesk ships feature modules including Business Connections (related business identification), Prefill (form enrichment), Multi-State Lien Filing (50-state UCC), Business Timeline (fraud history), and an Underwriting Intelligence Layer combining business and people UCC data. The product surface extends across merchant verification for payments, payroll tax registration across 50 states, and graduated seller verification for marketplaces.

Commercially, Middesk operates an API-first go-to-market with a parallel enterprise sales motion targeting regulated industries; pricing is quote-based with annual subscription and usage-based components and is not publicly disclosed. The company serves 600+ customers including Mercury, Brex, Ramp, Plaid, Marqeta, Shopify, Intuit, Rippling, Cash App, Bill.com, Toast, Revolut, Bluevine, Novo, Unit, Gusto, and MT Bank, processing 7 million business verifications annually and powering over $100 billion in underlying revenue flows. Middesk is backed by Sequoia, Accel, Insight Partners, Canapi Ventures, Gaingels, and Y Combinator following a $57 million Series B in June 2022, and has been recognized on the 2025 Inc. 5000, Forbes Best Startup Employers, and Fast Company Most Innovative Companies lists. International expansion is announced for summer 2026.

Name

Middesk

Legal name

Middesk, Inc.

Website

https://middesk.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Middesk is a business identity verification platform that automates KYB, fraud detection, underwriting, and business registration for banks, fintechs, lenders, and platforms, using 400+ data sources, a proprietary identity graph, and AI research agents delivered via APIs and MCP.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Business Identity Verification (KYB) Software

NAICS

Investigation and Personal Background Check Services (561611), Credit Bureaus (561450)

SIC

Finance Services (6199)

akta.pro primary industry

KYC/KYB & Customer Onboarding (CIP, beneficial ownership, screening) (FSAGAFAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Beneficial Ownership (UBO) & Corporate Registry Verification (KYB) (FSAMAMAK), Fraud Prevention & Identity Verification (IDV/KYC) (BPAMAEAI), Merchant & Payment Facilitator (PayFac) Underwriting / KYB (FSAMAMAJ), Consumer Identity Verification (KYC) & Fraud Risk for Credit (FSAKAKAD), Fraud, Risk, KYC/AML & Compliance Platforms (BPAMAFAI)

Keywords

• Business verification
• KYB platform
• Identity verification
• Fraud prevention
• Underwriting automation

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. API Subscription / Usage-based: Middesk operates as an API-first platform with subscription and usage-based pricing models. Companies pay for access to business verification APIs, with pricing likely based on verification volume and feature tiers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Middesk operates a business identity verification platform that automates Know Your Business (KYB) checks, fraud detection, underwriting, and business registration. The platform aggregates 400+ government and authoritative data sources and uses AI research agents and a proprietary identity graph to verify business existence, ownership, UBOs, sanctions screening, and address validation in seconds. It is delivered as an API-first product with autonomous workflows that resolve verification tasks end-to-end for banks, fintechs, lenders, and platforms.

Product overview

Middesk is a business identity platform offering a unified system for business verification, fraud prevention, underwriting, and business registration. The platform combines a core KYB/Know Your Business verification product with specialized solutions for payments, payroll, and marketplaces. Key modules include Middesk Agents (AI research agents for automated investigation), Business Connections (related business identification), Prefill (data enrichment), Multi-State Lien Filing, and Business Timeline (fraud detection through history). The platform provides REST and GraphQL APIs plus MCP server for AI agent integration, built on 400+ government and authoritative data sources.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Verification (KYB) KYB platform that automatically verifies business identity, resolves applications, and handles exceptions without manual review. Used by banks, fintechs, and lenders for customer onboarding.
• Fraud Prevention Uses purpose-built ML models and AI agents to detect risk patterns, synthetic identities, shell companies, and coordinated fraud rings across business networks.
• Underwriting

Quantifiable outcome

• 5x increase in onboarding capacity without proportional headcount growth (Rho case study)
• +9 more outcomes

Named customers20 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration8 records

AI capability9 records

Feature7 records

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Persona: Persona is a direct competitor offering a unified identity platform covering both individual KYC and business KYB verification, serving many of the same fintech, marketplace, and platform customers as Middesk.
• Alloy: Alloy is a direct competitor providing identity decisioning infrastructure for banks and fintechs, combining KYC, KYB, fraud, and AML signals through a workflow orchestration layer — overlapping with Middesk's verification and fraud prevention offerings.
• Trulioo: Trulioo is a direct global KYB/KYC competitor with broader geographic coverage than Middesk, serving cross-border fintech onboarding. Comparable in product scope but ahead internationally — the primary benchmark for Middesk's planned 2026 international launch.
• Sumsub: Sumsub is a direct competitor offering a full-cycle KYC/KYB/AML verification platform with global coverage and strong fraud detection. Targets the same fintech and platform customers as Middesk and is a key international benchmark.
• Veriff: Veriff is a direct competitor specializing in AI-powered identity verification with KYB capabilities for fintech, crypto, and marketplace clients. Comparable in product positioning and target verticals to Middesk.
• Socure: Socure is a direct competitor in digital identity verification, with strong KYC coverage and growing KYB capabilities. Listed as a Middesk partner and top KYB provider — competing for overlapping enterprise fintech accounts.
• Plaid Identity: Plaid Identity (formerly Cognito, acquired by Plaid) is a direct KYB competitor that benefits from Plaid's distribution into thousands of fintechs — directly competing for the same customer set Middesk serves, including Mercury, Brex, and Ramp.

Emerging players

• Sardine: Sardine is an emerging fraud and KYB player focused on AI-powered risk decisioning for payments and fintech — overlapping with Middesk's fraud prevention module and listed as a partner rather than a fully head-to-head competitor.

Broad incumbents

• Jumio: Jumio is a broad incumbent in identity verification with mature KYC/KYB offerings and global enterprise reach. Larger and more diversified than Middesk but overlapping on the KYB use cases for banks, fintechs, and platforms.
• Dun & Bradstreet: Dun & Bradstreet is a broad incumbent with the largest proprietary business identity and credit dataset globally. Competes with Middesk on underwriting, business verification, and entity data — a key competitor for enterprise risk and SMB lending customers.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/MiddeskHQ
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/middesk
• Facebookfacebook.com/middesk

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors6 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Middesk