TrustLayer

# TrustLayer: High-Level Overview

TrustLayer is an insurtech platform that automates the collection, verification, and tracking of compliance documents—primarily certificates of insurance (COIs), licenses, and business credentials—between organizations and their vendors, subcontractors, and business partners.[1][3] The company solves a fundamental operational friction point: the manual, paper-based processes that currently govern document exchange across millions of business relationships daily.[5]

The platform uses robotic process automation (RPA), optical character recognition (OCR), and machine learning to eliminate error-prone manual workflows.[2][3] Rather than relying on phone calls, faxes, and spreadsheets, TrustLayer enables real-time collaboration between stakeholders in the risk transfer chain—insurers, brokers, enterprises, and SMBs—through a centralized digital hub.[1][3] The company serves a broad cross-section of industries including construction, property management, real estate, retail, commercial lending, franchising, and healthcare.[4]

# Origin Story

TrustLayer was incorporated approximately four years before its official 2021 launch, placing its founding around 2017.[2] The company is led by CEO and co-founder John Fohr, who identified a critical gap in how businesses handle compliance documentation.[2] Rather than building flashy consumer-facing technology, the founders recognized that the unglamorous but essential work of validating insurance coverage and licenses represented a massive, inefficient market opportunity—one where thousands of phone calls and manual verifications occur daily across industries.[2][5]

The company has raised approximately $21 million in venture capital across two funding rounds and currently operates with 36 employees.[2] This lean, focused team reflects TrustLayer's mission-driven approach: solving a specific, high-friction problem rather than pursuing broad horizontal ambitions.

# Core Differentiators

• AI-Powered Document Intelligence: TrustLayer combines RPA, OCR, and natural language processing to automatically extract, classify, and verify information from compliance documents without manual data entry.[2][3]

• Network Effect: The platform operates a network of 298,810 companies, creating a collaborative ecosystem where vendors can share credentials once and satisfy multiple counterparties' requirements.[1]

• No-Friction Vendor Experience: Vendors don't require sign-in credentials to submit documents; TrustLayer handles outreach and collection through automated follow-ups and in-app messaging.[6]

• Multi-Document Scope: Beyond COIs, the platform tracks W9s, business licenses, driver's licenses, articles of incorporation, contracts, and custom compliance documents.[3][6]

• Real-Time Compliance Visibility: The TrustLayer Pulse network provides real-time updates on document expiration and compliance status, enabling proactive risk management rather than reactive scrambling.[3]

• Rules Engine Automation: The platform compares submitted documents against specific compliance requirements for each vendor relationship, flagging gaps automatically.[2]

# Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

TrustLayer operates at the intersection of three powerful trends: digital transformation of back-office operations, the rise of third-party risk management as a boardroom priority, and AI-driven automation of knowledge work.

The timing is critical. As supply chains have become more complex and distributed—particularly post-pandemic—regulatory scrutiny around vendor compliance has intensified. Simultaneously, the shift toward remote work has made paper-based document workflows untenable. TrustLayer captures this moment by automating a process that has remained stubbornly manual despite decades of enterprise software innovation.[5]

The company also benefits from the broader insurtech wave, which has attracted significant venture capital to problems at the intersection of insurance, compliance, and operational efficiency. By focusing on the "boring" but essential work of document verification, TrustLayer avoids direct competition with flashier insurtech startups while addressing a problem that affects virtually every organization.[1][3]

# Quick Take & Future Outlook

TrustLayer is positioned to become infrastructure for the modern risk management function. As enterprises increasingly view vendor risk as a strategic priority—not just a compliance checkbox—demand for platforms that provide visibility, automation, and collaboration will accelerate.

The company's competitive advantage lies not in solving a trendy problem but in solving a *persistent* one better than legacy alternatives. With a growing network, proven AI capabilities, and a lean operating model, TrustLayer has the foundation to expand beyond COI tracking into broader third-party risk intelligence. The question for the next phase is whether the company can evolve from a document automation tool into a strategic risk intelligence platform that helps enterprises understand and manage their entire vendor ecosystem—a natural extension of its current capabilities that would significantly expand its addressable market.