Argyle Lands $55 Million Series B

NEW YORK — Argyle, an employment data platform that provides companies access to user-permissioned employment records in real time, has raised a $55 million Series B round led by SignalFire with participation from current investors including Bain Capital Ventures, Bedrock, and Checkr.

The capital infusion will be used to accelerate the growth of its in-house engineering team, fuel international expansion, and scale the company’s go-to-market operations.

Argyle’s rapidly growing coverage includes over 500,000 U.S. employers, including 60% of the Fortune 500, close to 100% of gig workers, and 170+ million U.S. employees. Propelled by today’s rapidly changing work landscape, Argyle sets a new standard for how credit risk is assessed. It opens the door to broader financial access for all consumers by addressing identity, employment, and income verification in a holistic and equitable way.

“The meteoric rise of contractors, gig workers, and the creator economy necessitates new financial data infrastructure. Argyle is reinventing how employment data is managed, permissioned, evaluated, and used for good. That includes a fresh approach to modernizing outdated paper-based and low-data systems that block access to financial services for these workers. We’re proud to support the stellar team at Argyle and their mission to help businesses and institutions embrace the future of work,” said Ilya Kirnos, Founding Partner at SignalFire.

Kirnos will join the Argyle Board of Directors alongside Bain Capital Ventures Partner Ajay Agarwal, Checkr Co-founder and CEO Daniel Yanisse, and Argyle Founder and CEO Shmulik Fishman. Since launching its first fund in 2015, SignalFire has scaled quickly to $1B in regulatory assets under management. Known for assisting breakout companies with its recruiting technology, the firm’s notable investments include Ro, Grammarly, Frame.io, and MainStreet.

The need for a new, fair approach to credit decisioning is more urgent than ever. A recent report commissioned by Argyle, which surveyed more than 1,200 gig, freelance, and other 1099 workers, revealed that almost half (49 percent) of respondents were rejected by a financial service they knew they could afford, with over 60 percent indicating rejection as a result of a low credit score. Fifty-two percent experienced negative mental health effects and 42 percent reported adverse consequences on their family due to rejection.

“Workforce dynamics have evolved and it’s time to disrupt the status quo. While Equifax blazed trails in the employment data industry, the landscape has changed forever. It requires a dramatically different approach to employment data. It must be user-permissioned. It must be real-time. And it must be fair,” said Fishman. “Argyle is innovating technology solutions that meet these criteria to provide equitable access to financial services and products to today’s workers. It’s been our fastest year of growth to date as we’ve been turning our mission into reality. Adoption of our platform continues to exceed our expectations because consumers, financial institutions, and employers are eager for an alternative or supplement to static and incomplete data from legacy systems.”