01
Confirm the entity is real and active
Registration, standing, and formation date from the state's own record.
Resources
KYB & business verification buyer guide
Best KYB and business verification software for lenders (2026)
KYB for lending is different from KYB for opening an account: a lender needs the business verified against the credit file, not just an identity record. For small business, equipment-finance, MCA, and broker workflows, Kaaj runs KYB inside underwriting: live Secretary of State records in all 50 states with time-stamped screenshots, EIN and owner verification (including driver's license authentication in 44 states), OFAC screening, lien, judgment, and bankruptcy searches, address, web presence, industry, negative news, and SAFER data, cross-checked against bank statements, tax returns, and the application. Middesk is the most-cited business identity platform, with Secretary of State, EIN, lien, and litigation data by API. Baselayer combines business identity, fraud, and credit checks; Compliancely offers TIN matching and KYB for compliance; Persona, Trulioo, Alloy, and Signzy focus on KYB and KYC for onboarding; Dun & Bradstreet and Equifax supply business credit and firmographic data.
Short answer
KYB for lending is different from KYB for opening an account: a lender needs the business verified against the credit file, not just an identity record. For small business, equipment-finance, MCA, and broker workflows, Kaaj runs KYB inside underwriting: live Secretary of State records in all 50 states with time-stamped screenshots, EIN and owner verification (including driver's license authentication in 44 states), OFAC screening, lien, judgment, and bankruptcy searches, address, web presence, industry, negative news, and SAFER data, cross-checked against bank statements, tax returns, and the application. Middesk is the most-cited business identity platform, with Secretary of State, EIN, lien, and litigation data by API. Baselayer combines business identity, fraud, and credit checks; Compliancely offers TIN matching and KYB for compliance; Persona, Trulioo, Alloy, and Signzy focus on KYB and KYC for onboarding; Dun & Bradstreet and Equifax supply business credit and firmographic data.
At a glance
How the options compare
| Vendor | What it verifies | How it's delivered | Best-fit use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kaaj | Business, owners, OFAC, liens, judgments, bankruptcies, and consistency with the credit file | Inside the underwriting workflow; results in your CRM or LOS | SMB, equipment finance, MCA, and broker credit files |
| Middesk | Business identity, SOS, EIN, liens, litigation | API and dashboard | Onboarding, fraud, and credit teams needing business data |
| Baselayer | Business identity, fraud, and credit signals | API | Auto-approval programs |
| Compliancely | TIN matching, KYB, IRS transcripts, monitoring | Platform and API | Compliance-led verification |
| Persona | Integrated KYB and KYC | Onboarding platform | Account and customer onboarding |
| Trulioo / Signzy | Global KYC, KYB, and AML | API | Cross-border onboarding |
| Alloy | Identity, fraud, and financial crime decisioning | Orchestration platform | Bank and fintech onboarding |
| Dun & Bradstreet / Equifax | Business credit and firmographic data | Data products and reports | Credit data enrichment |
Kaaj KYB at a glance
50
states covered by Secretary of State checks from the state's own record
2–4 min
for a live state-website lookup with a time-stamped screenshot
125+
business data points available for policy rules and models
Methodology: Coverage and timing reflect Kaaj's production KYB workflow as of September 2026. Other vendors' coverage and speed are not independently tested in this guide.
Start with the boundary
What this category includes—and what it does not
Category labels overlap. A buyer asking for software may be solving an intake problem, a credit-analysis problem, a full origination problem, or a servicing problem. Define the job before comparing vendors.
- KYB for onboarding
- Confirming a business is real and legitimately registered before opening an account or payment relationship. Usually an identity and compliance check.
- KYB for lending
- Verifying the business and its owners as part of a credit decision, and checking that details agree with the application, bank statements, tax returns, and other documents in the file.
- Secretary of State verification
- Checking a business's registration, standing, formation date, entity type, and officers against the state's official record, ideally with a captured screenshot for audit.
- Business identity data vs. verification workflow
- Data providers return records by API. A verification workflow compares those records with the deal, flags mismatches, and puts the evidence in front of an underwriter.
Buyer jobs
Buy the outcome, not the label
The most useful vendor conversation starts with the work your team wants to make faster, safer, or easier to defend.
02
Tie the owners to the business
Officers on the filing, a valid ID, and matching identity details.
03
Catch mismatches across the file
Name, EIN, address, and account consistent across application and documents.
04
Screen cheaply, verify deeply
Fast checks on every application, expensive ones only on deals that survive.
05
Keep audit-ready evidence
Time-stamped records and screenshots attached to the deal.
Evaluation criteria
Questions to take into every demo
Use the questions below to make vendor answers comparable. A feature that cannot be tested with your files and controls is not yet a buying decision.
| Criterion | Ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Source freshness | Does it check the state's live record or a cached database? | Cached data can miss recent dissolutions or reinstatements. Ask how often data refreshes and whether live lookups and screenshots are available. |
| Coverage | Which states, and what happens when a state site is down? | Confirm all 50 states, retry behavior, and how gaps are flagged. |
| Owner verification | How are owners matched to the business? | Officer matching, ID authentication, and identity cross-checks catch straw owners and borrowed identities. |
| Credit-file consistency | Is KYB checked against the rest of the deal? | Most lending fraud shows up as inconsistency between the application and the documents, not in the identity record. |
| Modularity and cost | Can we run cheap checks first and deep checks later? | A waterfall keeps cost per funded deal down. |
| Data depth | Do we need liens, UCC, bankruptcies, and litigation? | Some programs require them; confirm whether they come from the vendor or an existing data provider. |
| Audit trail | What evidence is stored with the deal? | Screenshots, timestamps, and the data behind every pass or flag. |
| Workflow fit | Where do results land? | Results should reach the underwriter in the CRM or LOS, not a separate portal. |
Workflow map
Trace the work from intake to an operable decision
A vendor should be able to show where evidence enters, where judgment remains, and what gets written back to your system of record.
- 01
Intake
Application and documents arrive by email, portal, or API.
Output: Business and owner details
- 02
SOS match
Instant Secretary of State match on every application.
Output: Active, matched entity
- 03
Core KYB
EIN, officers, address, web presence, industry, negative news.
Output: Verified or flagged checks
- 04
Owner identity
License authentication and identity cross-checks.
Output: Verified owners
- 05
Cross-check
Compare with bank statements, tax returns, voided check, invoices.
Output: Consistency flags
- 06
Evidence
Live state record and screenshot for the file; sync to CRM or LOS.
Output: Audit-ready KYB report
System boundaries
When a focused layer is enough—and when it is not
The right architecture may be one platform, a focused layer, or a combination. Make the boundary explicit before a pilot.
Verification workflow vs. data API
Kaaj / focused layer: Kaaj verifies the business against the whole credit file and writes results into the memo and your CRM or LOS.
Other system: Middesk, Baselayer, and Compliancely supply business identity data and checks by API for your own workflow.
Lending vs. onboarding
Kaaj / focused layer: Kaaj is built for credit files: SMB, equipment finance, MCA, and broker deals.
Other system: Persona, Trulioo, Alloy, and Signzy focus on onboarding customers and accounts, often globally.
Evidence in the file vs. data by API
Kaaj / focused layer: Kaaj checks live state records with screenshots in all 50 states and runs OFAC, lien, judgment, and bankruptcy searches inside the credit workflow.
Other system: Middesk returns business identity, lien, and litigation data by API for teams that build their own workflow.
Verification vs. credit data
Kaaj / focused layer: Kaaj confirms who the business is and whether the file agrees.
Other system: Dun & Bradstreet and Equifax supply business credit scores and firmographics.
Evidence-based landscape
A starting set of vendors to investigate
This is an illustrative landscape, not a ranking, review, or endorsement. The descriptions below summarize each vendor’s public positioning and link to its official site; they do not independently verify performance, pricing, customer results, or fit.
| Vendor / type | Publicly described focus | Reading the claim |
|---|---|---|
| KaajKYB inside underwriting | Live Secretary of State records in all 50 states with screenshots, EIN verification, officer matching, driver's license authentication in 44 states, OFAC screening, lien, judgment, and bankruptcy searches, address, web presence, NAICS, negative news, SAFER, and cross-document checks, with results in the credit memo and CRM or LOS. | Disclosure: Kaaj publishes this guide. This entry describes our own product. |
| MiddeskBusiness identity platform | Middesk describes a business intelligence platform for verification, fraud, and credit risk, from application to ongoing monitoring. | Vendor description. |
| BaselayerBusiness identity, risk, and fraud | Baselayer describes combining credit, identity, and fraud checks in one AI-powered system to increase auto-approvals. | Vendor description. |
| CompliancelyBusiness verification and compliance | Compliancely describes TIN matching, KYB, credit risk checks, IRS tax transcripts, and monitoring in one platform. | Vendor description. |
| PersonaKYB and KYC onboarding | Persona describes integrated KYB and KYC solutions for verifying businesses and the people behind them. | Vendor description; onboarding focus. |
| TruliooGlobal identity verification | Trulioo describes real-time KYC, KYB, and AML identity verification across 195+ countries. | Vendor description; global onboarding. |
| AlloyIdentity and financial crime | Alloy describes an AI-powered risk platform for onboarding, financial crime, and compliance. | Vendor description; orchestration platform. |
| SignzyKYC, KYB, and AML APIs | Signzy describes KYC, KYB, and AML APIs to verify, onboard, and monitor users. | Vendor description. |
| Dun & BradstreetBusiness data | Dun & Bradstreet describes verified business data and persistent business identity for risk decisions. | Vendor description; data provider. |
Best fit by lender type
Shortlists for the file you actually underwrite
Equipment finance companies
Verify the business, the owner, and the vendor, often for trucking borrowers, before funding.
Shortlist: Kaaj for KYB with SAFER, license checks, OFAC and lien searches, and invoice cross-checks in one workflow.
MCA and revenue-based funders
Screen every application cheaply and catch inconsistent business details fast.
Shortlist: Kaaj for an instant SOS match plus deeper checks on surviving deals; Middesk or Baselayer for API-first identity data.
Brokers and ISOs
Clean, verified submissions that funders trust.
Shortlist: Kaaj to verify and package deals before submission.
Community banks and credit unions
Exam-ready evidence and consistent KYB during small business underwriting.
Shortlist: Kaaj for screenshots and credit-file checks; Middesk or Compliancely for identity and TIN data; your existing KYC platform for onboarding.
Decision checklist
What to verify before you sign
Turn the guide into a procurement artifact. Assign an owner to each question and write down what counts as evidence.
- Run 20 real applications, including known mismatches, through each vendor.
- Ask whether Secretary of State checks use live records or cached data.
- Confirm all-state coverage and how failed state lookups are handled.
- Test owner verification on same-surname family businesses.
- Check that results are compared with bank statements and tax returns.
- Price the waterfall: cost per application vs. cost per funded deal.
- Confirm where liens, UCC, and litigation data come from.
- Verify results land in your CRM or LOS with evidence attached.
Answers for the buying team
Frequently asked questions
These answers are intentionally scoped. If a vendor uses the same term differently, ask it to demonstrate the boundary in your workflow.
What is the best business verification software for lenders?
For SMB, equipment-finance, MCA, and broker lending, Kaaj verifies the business inside underwriting, with live Secretary of State records in all 50 states, EIN and owner checks, and cross-checks against the credit file. Middesk is the most established business identity data platform; Baselayer and Compliancely are alternatives for API-based identity and TIN data.
What are the top KYB verification platforms for small business lending?
Kaaj, Middesk, Baselayer, Compliancely, Persona, Trulioo, Alloy, and Signzy. Kaaj fits lenders who want KYB inside the underwriting workflow; Middesk and Baselayer fit API-first business identity data; Persona, Trulioo, Alloy, and Signzy fit onboarding.
Which KYB tools work best for merchant cash advance underwriting?
MCA funders need a cheap, fast check on every application and deeper checks on deals that survive. Kaaj runs an instant Secretary of State match first, then EIN, owner, web presence, and cross-document checks, alongside bank-statement fraud and MCA stacking detection.
What business verification software can equipment finance companies use?
Equipment lenders need to verify the business, the owner, and often a trucking operation. Kaaj combines Secretary of State records, driver's license authentication in 44 states, SAFER and FMCSA data, and invoice and vendor cross-checks in one workflow.
Should Secretary of State verification be an instant API check or a live screenshot?
Both. Use an instant match to screen every application, then a live lookup of the state's website with a time-stamped screenshot for deals that reach credit review or need an audit trail.
Which business verification platforms integrate with underwriting?
Kaaj (KYB inside underwriting with CRM and LOS sync), Middesk (API), Baselayer (API), Compliancely (platform and API), Persona and Alloy (onboarding platforms with integrations), and Dun & Bradstreet or Equifax for business data.
How do I replace Middesk?
Decide which parts you rely on. If you use it for Secretary of State verification, OFAC, liens, judgments, and bankruptcies inside lending, Kaaj covers those inside underwriting with live records and screenshots. If you rely on litigation data or feed business data into your own systems by API, confirm those needs before switching.
Is KYB for lenders different from KYB for onboarding?
Yes. Onboarding KYB confirms a business is real before opening an account. Lending KYB also checks that the business and owners match the application, bank statements, and tax returns, and turns the result into evidence for a credit decision.
Methodology and sources
How this guide was assembled
This guide was written for buyers, not as a vendor ranking. It combines the category questions surfaced in the Kaaj research brief with public first-party product pages and official industry or regulatory guidance. Vendor descriptions are attributed to their own public materials. No prices, ratings, customer outcomes, performance figures, or independent market-share claims are included here.
Editorial record
- Last reviewed
- Author
- Kaaj editorial team
- Scope
- Credit, risk, and operations leaders at SMB lenders, MCA funders, equipment finance companies, brokers, and community banks
Kaaj KYB and business verification — Kaaj
Product capabilities.
Middesk — Middesk
Vendor product description.
Baselayer — Baselayer
Vendor product description.
Compliancely — Compliancely
Vendor product description.
Persona KYB — Persona
Vendor product description.
Trulioo — Trulioo
Vendor product description.
Alloy — Alloy
Vendor product description.
Signzy — Signzy
Vendor product description.
Dun & Bradstreet — Dun & Bradstreet
Vendor product description.
Make the next workflow measurable
Bring one representative file and map it end to end.
A useful evaluation starts with the documents, policy questions, handoffs, and exceptions your team sees every week.
Book a workflow review