Secure Funder

What Secure Funder does

Secure Funder is an independent certification program for the alternative finance industry, established in 2025 and administered by Aquamark under the leadership of Program Director Christina Duncan. The program certifies that participating funders have implemented safeguards to protect merchant submission data from unauthorized sharing, addressing the 'backdooring' practices that have undermined trust in the alternative-finance market. Eligibility spans ten verticals including working capital, term loan, line of credit, equipment financing, invoice factoring, asset-based lending, SBA, e-commerce, MCA, and credit card split, positioning the program as a vertical-specific alternative to generic SOC 2 certification for SaaS-style firms. Certification focuses strictly on data handling practices and does not evaluate underwriting or broader business operations.

The core product is a self-guided online verification process delivered through a SOC 2-secured member portal at portal.securefunder.org. Participants answer questions, upload supporting documentation, and provide video evidence at their own pace, with a 90-day completion window and extensions available. All submissions undergo human final review before certification is granted; upon approval, members receive a digital badge and are listed in a public member directory. The program is paired with the related Secure Broker certification for brokers, and certified funders gain cross-listing visibility in the Secure Broker portal, forming a two-sided trust ecosystem. Marketing relies on LinkedIn presence, EIN Presswire coverage, and educational content defining 'backdooring' to establish category authority.

Revenue is generated through an annual program fee of $2,499 USD per member, with monthly installments available upon request and no refunds once verification has commenced; payment is required before final review. The program was announced in December 2025, guidelines were finalized in January 2026, and the official launch with charter members occurred in April 2026. As of the source data, the public directory shows no certified members and no organizations pending review, indicating the program remains in an early adoption phase despite a logo wall of ten alternative-finance brands displayed on the website.

Name

Secure Funder

Legal name

Secure Funder™ Certification Program

Website

https://securefunder.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2025

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Secure Funder is an Aquamark-administered certification program launched in 2026 that verifies alternative-finance funders' data-handling safeguards against merchant data misuse, charging a $2,499 annual fee for SOC 2-secured self-guided verification and a digital trust badge.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Annual Certification Program Membership: The primary revenue stream is an annual program fee of $2,499 USD for certification and membership. Monthly installments are available upon request. Payment must be remitted before a final review can be conducted. The program is designed for funders of all sizes in the alternative finance industry.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Secure Funder™ is an independent certification program that verifies alternative finance funders have safeguards in place to protect merchant submission data from unauthorized sharing. Funders complete a self-guided online verification through a SOC 2-secured member portal, submitting documentation and video evidence for final review. Certified members receive a digital badge and are listed in the public directory and the paired Secure Broker portal.

Product overview

Secure Funder™ is a single, unified certification program for the alternative finance industry. The core offering is the certification program itself, which verifies that funders have safeguards to protect merchant data. Certified members receive a digital badge and are listed in a public directory. Participants complete verification through a self-service member portal, uploading evidence and documentation for review. The program focuses exclusively on data-handling practices, not underwriting or broader business operations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Secure Funder™ Certification Program

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• AquamarkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAquamark is the administering body for Secure Funder certification program. The program is independently administered by Aquamark, which also developed the program standards, verification guidelines, and operates the member portal. Christina Duncan serves as both Program Director for Secure Funder and Founder of Aquamark.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves1 record

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• PCI Security Standards Council: PCI SSC administers an industry-specific security/data-handling certification (PCI DSS) required across the payments value chain. Like Secure Funder, it defines a vertical-specific data-handling standard and certifies participants against it.
• Drata: Drata is a direct Vanta competitor offering automated SOC 2/ISO readiness and continuous compliance monitoring. Like Secure Funder, it is positioned around making data-handling posture easily verifiable to third parties.
• Laika: Laika (now Thoropass) is a compliance platform focused on SOC 2 and related attestations for SaaS and fintechs — a relevant analog in the certification-and-verification workflow Secure Funder runs.
• Secureframe: Secureframe is another compliance automation SaaS helping companies earn SOC 2, HIPAA, ISO 27001. It competes for the same "data-handling trust" budget that Secure Funder is targeting in alt-finance.
• Vanta: Vanta is a leading compliance automation platform that helps companies achieve SOC 2 and other security certifications — an indirect substitute for Secure Funder's certification and a downstream enabler if Secure Funder formalizes its standard into a machine-checkable framework.
• HITRUST: HITRUST is the most structurally similar peer — an industry-specific (healthcare) security and data-handling certification body that issues assurance certifications and badges to participating organizations. Secure Funder replicates this "vertical trust mark" model in alt-finance.

Others

• BBB (Better Business Bureau): BBB operates an industry-agnostic trust/credentialing program that businesses pay to join and display publicly. It is a thematically adjacent trust-mark model, though much broader and less technical than Secure Funder.

Broad incumbents

• AICPA: AICPA owns the SOC 2 attestation framework — the incumbent "data-handling" trust mark that Secure Funder is differentiating against in alt-finance. As standards-setter and ultimate certifier of record, it is the most relevant broad incumbent.
• ISO (International Organization for Standardization): ISO defines cross-industry security and data-handling standards (e.g., ISO 27001) and licenses certification bodies globally. Secure Funder is essentially a verticalized, lighter-weight analog of an ISO-style certification scheme.

Emerging players

• Sprinto: Sprinto is an emerging compliance automation player focused on SOC 2/ISO for cloud companies. It is an emerging substitute at the readiness layer if alt-finance funders choose generic SOC 2 over Secure Funder.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/secure-funder

Compliance1 record

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 Secure Funder