What PreSearch Backgrounds does

PreSearch Backgrounds, Inc. (PSBI) is a privately held background screening and compliance management company headquartered in Ashland, Wisconsin, operating since approximately 1995-2000. The company serves thousands of organizations across verticals including camps and recreation, churches and faith-based organizations, schools and education, nonprofits, healthcare and senior care, general employers, and property managers. Its core offering is a cloud-based platform that allows organizations to configure role-based compliance rules, automatically apply screening requirements to employees and volunteers in each role, and continuously monitor compliance status including renewals, license expirations, criminal activity, and federal/state exclusion lists.

PSBI's technology stack centers on a role-based compliance rules engine, a compliance dashboard, automated monitoring and rescreening workflows, FCRA-compliant electronic consent and adverse-action handling, and a Partner API (apis.psbi.com) that supports ATS and HRIS integrations and Microsoft SSO. The platform operates on a per-search, pay-as-you-go transaction model with no monthly minimums, no setup fees, and pass-through government access fees at cost. Additional recurring subscription revenue comes from ongoing criminal monitoring, exclusion list monitoring (OIG, SAM, Medicaid), license tracking, and periodic rescreening priced per name enrolled. International screening covers 250+ countries.

The go-to-market blends a self-serve SMB motion (app.psbi.com signup) with an enterprise field sales motion targeting healthcare, government contractors, and other complex compliance buyers, plus an API/embedded channel for ATS and HRIS integrations. The company is PBSA-accredited, FCRA-compliant, and bootstrapped with no disclosed external funding.

Name

PreSearch Backgrounds

Legal name

PreSearch Backgrounds, Inc.

Website

https://psbi.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

PreSearch Backgrounds (PSBI) is a Wisconsin-based, PBSA-accredited background screening and compliance management platform serving thousands of organizations across healthcare, education, nonprofits, camps, and general employers with role-based compliance automation, ongoing monitoring, and FCRA-compliant workflows.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Background Screening Services

NAICS

Investigation and Personal Background Check Services (561611)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361)

akta.pro primary industry

Pre-Employment Background Checks & Screening (BPAKAEAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Criminal Background Checks (National/State/County) (BPACALAA), Employee Verification & Background Check Coordination (BPAAAIAG)

Keywords

• Background screening services
• Compliance management platform
• Employment verification
• Criminal record monitoring
• FCRA compliant screening

Headquarters

HQ city

Ashland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Per-Search Transaction Billing: Item-level billing where every search is billed individually when it runs. Common searches include county criminal ($10/county), national criminal ($6.50), state criminal ($15), MVR ($5), employment verification ($15), education verification ($15), drug testing ($55), and social media screening ($30). Government access fees passed through at cost with no markup.
2. Ongoing Monitoring Subscriptions: Subscription-style pricing for continuous monitoring services. Watchlist and exclusion monitoring priced per name enrolled per database ($0.05-$0.25/name). Monthly monitoring, weekly monitoring, and real-time monitoring frequency options available. Licensing based on number of employees enrolled in monitoring.
3. Pass-Through Government Access Fees: Government-mandated access fees from courts, state agencies, and DMVs are passed through at cost with no markup. Examples include NY state criminal ($96), Kansas ($30), various county fees, and MVR state access fees ranging from $2-$27.50 depending on state.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

PreSearch Backgrounds (PSBI) operates a cloud-based background screening and compliance management platform that automates role-based screening requirements for employers, volunteer programs, and tenant screening. The platform configures compliance rules per position type, then automatically tracks screening status, handles renewals, surfaces action items, and runs ongoing monitoring for criminal records, exclusion lists, license expirations, and periodic rescreening across 250+ countries.

Product overview

PreSearch Backgrounds operates as a unified platform-plus-modules architecture for background screening and compliance management. The core PreSearch Background Screening Platform provides centralized compliance tracking, automated renewals, and dashboard reporting. This core is augmented by specialized service modules including: Background Checks (criminal, court records, MVR, fingerprinting, social media), Verification Services (employment, education, license, reference checks), Drug & Occupational Testing, Onboarding Compliance (I-9, E-Verify, consent management), Workforce Assessments, and Ongoing Compliance services (Criminal Monitoring, Exclusion Monitoring, License Tracking, Periodic Rescreening). The PSBI Partner API enables programmatic access, while the Client Portal provides the user interface for managing all services. International Background Screening extends coverage across 250+ countries. The platform uses a role-based compliance rules system where compliance requirements are configured per position and applied automatically to all employees in that role.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• PSBI Partner API: API documentation portal for partner integrations with PSBI services.

Products and services

• PreSearch Background Screening Platform

Quantifiable outcome

• Most background checks completed in 24-48 hours
• +3 more outcomes

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles8 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature6 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• A-Check Global: A-Check Global is a background screening provider offering criminal, employment, and education verification services focused on SMB and mid-market employers. It is a directly comparable peer with similar service catalog and FCRA-compliant workflows.
• Accurate Background: Accurate Background is a privately held screening provider offering criminal, verification, drug testing, and compliance solutions to employers. It is a closely comparable mid-market competitor with similar SMB and enterprise mix to PSBI.
• Sterling (Sterling Talent Solutions): Sterling is a large established background screening provider offering criminal checks, verifications, drug testing, and ongoing monitoring across enterprise and SMB segments. It competes directly with PSBI across most service categories including ongoing compliance and FCRA-compliant workflows.
• First Advantage: First Advantage is a publicly traded background screening company offering criminal searches, verifications, drug testing, and ongoing monitoring globally. It directly competes with PSBI in SMB and enterprise screening with deep international coverage.
• Universal Background Screening: Universal Background Screening is a privately held provider of employment background checks, drug testing, and compliance services targeting SMB and mid-market employers. It directly competes with PSBI on service breadth, FCRA compliance, and ongoing monitoring capabilities.
• HireRight: HireRight is a global background screening provider serving enterprises with criminal, employment, education verification, drug testing, and ongoing monitoring. It is a direct competitor to PSBI across SMB, mid-market, and enterprise screening with international coverage.
• Checkr: Checkr is a venture-backed, technology-first background screening platform offering criminal, identity, and continuous monitoring services. It competes directly with PSBI in modern, API-driven screening with significant traction in the gig economy and enterprise ATS integrations.

Emerging players

• Certn: Certn is an emerging background screening platform focused on developer-friendly API-based screening and instant criminal/identity checks. It overlaps with PSBI's API and ATS-integration strategy but targets a more tech-forward customer base.
• Veremark: Veremark is an emerging technology-driven background screening company offering API-based checks and continuous verification with global coverage. It overlaps with PSBI's API and ATS-integration strategy and competes for tech-forward mid-market customers.

Broad incumbents

• Pinkerton (Corporate Risk): Pinkerton is a large incumbent corporate risk and investigations firm with background screening as part of a broader security services portfolio. It serves enterprise and government clients with screening alongside guarding and intelligence services, comparable in regulatory expertise to PSBI.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 PreSearch Backgrounds