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§ Private Profile · 867 Boylston St Boston, MA 02116, USA
Proof is a company.
Proof is an identity-assured transaction management platform that verifies identities and secures digital interactions. It leverages a network-based verification approach alongside live experts to facilitate millions of identity-validated transactions annually. The platform is designed to provide robust identity validation for various digital processes, ensuring trust and security in online exchanges.
The company was founded in 2015 by CEO Pat Kinsel, who conceived the idea after experiencing firsthand the complexities of traditional document notarization. This personal encounter spurred his vision to simplify and digitize the notarization process, extending beyond it to a broader mission of establishing digital trust for online transactions. Proof, initially known as Notarize, emerged from this insight to streamline critical but often cumbersome processes.
Proof serves a diverse set of businesses, empowering them to instantly and securely verify individuals, agreements, and transactions within a digital environment. Its overarching mission is to make trust achievable in an increasingly digital world, enabling secure and reliable interactions for its users. The company is focused on a future where digital interactions are underpinned by strong, verifiable identity and transaction integrity.
Proof has raised $262.0M across 7 funding rounds.
Key people at Proof.
Proof was founded in 2015 by Pat Kinsel (Founder & CEO) and Thanasis Delistathis (Co-Founder & Managing Partner).
Proof has raised $262.0M in total across 7 funding rounds.
Key people at Proof.
PROOF is the Pro Rata Opportunity Fund, an expansion-stage venture capital firm that invests strategic capital alongside select early-stage VC firms to help them maintain pro-rata ownership in their top-performing portfolio companies[1][4][6]. This preserves VCs' board influence, cap table positions, and returns as companies scale, addressing the common issue where broad portfolios deplete capital for follow-on rounds[1]. With over $700M in assets under management since its 2015 inception, PROOF targets hypergrowth category leaders across sectors like biotech (e.g., Colossal Biosciences), logistics (Zipline), healthtech (Rula Health), fintech (DailyPay), and construction tech (ICON)[4]. Its model amplifies upside in the startup ecosystem by enabling sustained VC involvement in winners, fostering deeper operational support and faster scaling for high-potential ventures[1][4].
Founded in 2015, PROOF emerged to solve a structural gap in venture investing: early-stage VCs often exhaust pro-rata rights in breakout companies due to diversified portfolios[1][4]. Key partners leverage networks from top firms, partnering selectively to co-invest in proven winners without competing in initial rounds[1]. The firm has evolved from a niche pro-rata specialist to an expansion-stage player with a portfolio emphasizing global hypergrowth leaders, growing AUM to over $700M while maintaining a focused strategy of backing category-defining companies[4].
PROOF rides the wave of venture capital maturation, where power-law returns concentrate in a tiny fraction of startups, making pro-rata preservation critical amid lengthening timelines to exit[1][4]. Timing aligns with a post-2022 funding reset, where disciplined follow-on capital differentiates winners in a capital-constrained environment[4]. Market forces like rising interest rates and selective LP allocations favor specialists like PROOF, which unlock upside without primary risk. It influences the ecosystem by stabilizing top VC portfolios, encouraging bolder early bets and reducing churn in breakout companies' cap tables[1].
PROOF is poised to expand its $700M+ AUM by deepening ties with emerging VC powerhouses in AI, climate, and health, capitalizing on a rebound in late-stage funding[4]. Trends like AI-driven efficiencies and on-demand capital will amplify demand for its model, potentially evolving into full secondary solutions for VC liquidity. As portfolios consolidate around fewer winners, PROOF's niche will grow influential, maximizing upside where early VCs need it most—cementing its role in fueling the next wave of category leaders[1][4].
Proof has raised $262.0M across 7 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $50.0M Series A in August 2022.
Proof was founded in 2015 by Pat Kinsel (Founder & CEO) and Thanasis Delistathis (Co-Founder & Managing Partner).
Proof has raised $262.0M in total across 7 funding rounds.
Proof's investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Collab+Currency, Flamingo DAO, Seven Seven Six, SV Angel, True Ventures, VaynerFund, Camber Creek, CapitalG, Citi Ventures, Fifth Wall, Ludlow Ventures.
