What Shred Nations does

Shred Nations, operating as a trade name under DataGuard USA LLC, is an internet marketing and lead-generation company that runs the largest known North American online marketplace for document shredding and information destruction services. Founded in 2003 as a digital extension of the 1977-founded TRI-R Systems / 1994-founded DataGuard USA recycling and shredding heritage, the platform connects consumers and businesses seeking secure destruction of paper documents, hard drives, electronics, and products with a network of over 6,000 vetted local service providers across 15,000+ zip codes in the United States and Canada. Its core offering is a database-driven matching system that delivers up to four competing provider quotes to a customer within 3–5 minutes of a free online form submission, with conversion supported by a toll-free phone sales line and a separate partners portal.

The product surface extends well beyond paper shredding: mobile, off-site, scheduled, one-time, and event-based shredding are supplemented by Ship N Shred (a 2017 UPS partnership mail-in service), hard drive destruction, electronic destruction, product destruction, document scanning with OCR, secure document storage, and a Document Management System. Marketing relies on a multi-channel digital strategy — SEO across 3,700+ city-specific landing pages, Google and Bing paid search, display advertising, content marketing, and email — supported by Active Campaign automation.

The business model is a marketplace/lead-generation model under which Shred Nations captures customer intent (name, contact, ZIP, project details) and monetizes the lead by sharing it with network providers; customers pay providers directly for the underlying destruction service. Pricing is quote-based and varies by project size, service type, frequency, and geography. The company serves twelve distinct verticals — Medical, Business, Legal, Finance, Education, Government, Insurance, Real Estate, Hospitality, HR, and Automotive — plus residential customers, reaching its one-millionth cumulative customer milestone in 2017 and expanding into Canada the following year.

Name

Shred Nations

Legal name

DataGuard USA LLC

Website

https://shrednations.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1977

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Shred Nations is a North American online marketplace and lead-generation platform that connects consumers and businesses with a vetted network of over 6,000 local shredding and information destruction providers across the United States and Canada.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Lakewood

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Lead Generation / Marketplace Fees: Shred Nations generates revenue by collecting customer leads and connecting them with shredding service providers. The company collects contact information (name, phone, email, zip code) from customers seeking quotes and shares these leads with shredding contractors in their network. Customers receive multiple quotes and hire providers directly.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Shred Nations is an online marketplace aggregator that connects individuals and businesses with a network of over 6,000 local shredding service providers across the US and Canada. The platform matches customers with up to four vetted local providers within 3-5 minutes and offers paper/document shredding, hard drive and electronic destruction, document scanning, and storage services through its partner network.

Product overview

Shred Nations operates as a national marketplace/lead-generation platform connecting individuals and businesses with local shredding and information management service providers. The core offering consists of paper and document shredding services (including mobile, off-site, scheduled, one-time, and event-based options), complemented by hard drive destruction, electronic destruction, and product destruction services. Additional services include document scanning (with OCR technology), document storage, and document management systems. The company serves diverse sectors including Medical, Legal, Finance, Business, Residential, Education, Insurance, Government, Real Estate, Hospitality, Human Resources, and Automotive. The platform differentiates itself through a network of over 6,000 drop-off providers covering 15,000+ zip codes across the US and Canada.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Paper and Document Shredding Services Core shredding services connecting customers with trusted local providers for secure document destruction, available via mobile shredding, off-site shredding, scheduled service, one-time purge, and shred events.
• Mobile Shredding

Quantifiable outcome

• Matched to a provider within 3-5 minutes
• +2 more outcomes

Segments12 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• UPScoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 2017Shred Nations partnered with UPS in 2017 to provide Ship N Shred solutions nationwide for small volume shredding customers. This partnership enables customers to ship documents directly for secure destruction, expanding service options beyond local provider networks.
• Regional and Local Shredding ProviderscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorShred Nations has built a network of thousands of regional and local shredding service providers across North America. These providers deliver actual shredding services including mobile, off-site, and scheduled shredding. The company acts as a lead-generation intermediary connecting these providers with customers.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Record Nations: Operates an online marketplace/aggregator model that connects businesses with local records management and shredding providers — the closest direct comparable to Shred Nations' lead-generation business model.
• Shred-it (Stericycle): One of the largest North American shredding and information destruction service providers, offering mobile, off-site, and scheduled shredding programs to the same regulated verticals Shred Nations serves.
• PROSHRED Security: National mobile shredding franchise offering on-site document and hard drive destruction to businesses and government clients, directly competing for the same downstream shredding customers.
• Corodata: Regional records storage and shredding provider serving Southern California and the Western US with document destruction, storage, and scanning — directly comparable service offering to Shred Nations' add-on services.
• Access Information Management: National records and information management company offering secure shredding, document storage, and digital services across the same verticals as Shred Nations.
• National Document Shredding Service: Regional and national mobile and drop-off shredding provider competing for the same SMB and enterprise shredding demand that flows through the Shred Nations marketplace.

Broad incumbents

• Iron Mountain: Global incumbent in physical and digital information management, including document storage, secure shredding, and data destruction — competes both as a direct service provider and as a buyer of shredders in the same verticals.
• Cintas: Large national B2B services provider that includes document destruction among a broader portfolio of uniform, facility, and compliance services — competes for the same enterprise customers with a captive provider network.
• Stericycle: Parent of Shred-it and a major regulated waste and information destruction services provider with national service capacity that competes for the same high-compliance shredding customers.
• Recall (Iron Mountain): Records management, secure shredding, and document storage brand within Iron Mountain — directly competes for enterprise document destruction and storage contracts that flow through Shred Nations' marketplace.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/shred_nations
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/shred-nations

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Shred Nations